


Alternate Reality

by Rona23



Series: Lance and Keith, neck in neck [12]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Marks, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, Modern AU, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, blade of marmora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-10-18 10:24:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 48,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20637626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rona23/pseuds/Rona23
Summary: Lance is stuck in an alternate universe. He has no idea how to return home. And for some reason, everybody here seems to hate him. Nobody believes a word he says. Then again, with the war recently ended and the chance to see Allura again, Lance decides that maybe, he could have some fun here.On the other side, in his world, a stranger has taken over his body. Faced with a new world, familiar and yet unknown people, auLance encounters his biggest fears and figures out who he truly is. The struggle is real, even if it may not seem that way.alternatively: a oneshot that turned out of hand and just decided to do whatever it wants without making sense. There might be a plot, but I wouldn´t know. I just wrote it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In all honesty, I have no idea how this story came to pass and it doesn´t really make sense, but I put too much time for it to let it rot on my computer. Consider this a WIP that I alterated to the point where it had some kind of ending. Even if it´s a bit rushed. Have fun anyway. It´s free words.

Lance stirred in his sleep. His own movements causing his headache to worsen. The feeling of sore muscles and an uncomfortable stab in his ankle finally forced him to open his eyes.  
Lance blinked rapidly as the blinding sun appeared right above him.

It took a few moments for Lance to get used to it and realize, there was a whining sound not too far away.  
Lance knew that sound. “Kosmo?”, he asked, but his voice sounded strange.

May it be the years of war, harsh training and both mental and physical scars that had caused his voice to darken over the years, in the morning it was usually at it´s lowest.

Now? Now Lance´s voice sounded like that of a teenager in the middle of his voice break.  
To be fair, Lance was already eighteen when the cracking finally stopped.  
Never the less, there should be no reason for it to return.

The thought only haunted him for a second, as a panicked dog tried to jump around in the field of tall grass.  
Grass? Should it not be crops? Was Lance not on his farm?

Apparently he was, but everything looked – different. Younger – somehow.

And then Lance finally saw Kosmo. It was only a split second, but Lance immediately knew, even through the grass that this was not Kosmo. At least not the Kosmo he knew.  
Still, as Lance called him, the dog jumped towards him. Panic rising as it barked at Lance, staring at him strangely, as if he was searching for something in Lance to recognize.

“Kosmo? Is that you?!”, Lance asked again. Because of all the small changes he had just taken in, the question demanded to be asked.  
The dog, a giant husky, with dark black fur, barked loudly as if to affirm Lance that he was indeed, Kosmo.

And he was. Lance knew, because of three things.  
First of all, the eyes and the white pattern around his eyes were exactly the same as he remembered.  
Secondly, the voice of the dog was oddly familiar.  
And last but not least, the choker.

Lance remembered that when Keith had come to visit him last, he had brought a small stone from a planet, close to the quantum abyss with him.  
The quantum abyss, to those of you who don´t remember, was a place Keith had spend two years of his life with his mother and a cosmic dog. All while in Lance´s time, merely a month or so had passed. Time works differently in the quantum abyss.  
Anyhow, Keith had assured him that nothing was - in what way so ever - bizarre about the small purple gem stone. And he had attached it to Kosmo´s choker. Even though it had been a real fight to get Kosmo to wear the thing, somehow he seemed to like the stone.

But something was wrong with it, Lance could feel it. And he knew, whatever was happening right now, was the stone´s fault all along.

“Ssh, it´s alright Kosmo. I have no idea where we are, but it´s the two of us, we´ll be fine.”, Lance said reassuringly as Kosmo curled himself up in Lance´s arm.

Then again, how could Lance promise something like this, while not knowing what was going on himself?

The answer is quite simple, actually.  
Lance was a war veteran. He had fought and won and survived battles, most people his age could not even imagine. Other than perhaps in some extravagant TV shows where they would point their fingers at the hero´s and say: “Are they dumb? They could have done this and that and then nothing of this would have happened.”

But to Lance, it happened. And he was one of the people who had to spend month´s to realize certain things about life, the future, the past, the war, time travel, parallel universes, etc. etc.  
He did not have all the important facts sorted out for him, he needed the help of the smartest people in his universe to find these things. And even then it was always them who made the calls. It made sense for him not to worry.  
Keith had said it to him once, “things will work themselves out.” And so far, he had been right. They always did, somehow.

And that is not the only thing he had learned.

Lance had learned, he was the support, the one who kept everyone together. Who helped them sort out their problems, made them keep going when they thought everything that was lost.  
It took him a long time to figure out who he was and what he wanted and that he had one of the most important roles in the universe. But in the end he found himself at the old farm of his family again, the love of his life, Allura of Altea watching over him as she had become the entity.

Now, Lance was never alone. And he had become a peaceful, grown version of himself. He was calm, as he had gotten to be everything he ever wanted.  
The fight was won. The battle was over. Now there was nothing to accomplish anymore. It also made him feel a bit lost, because he had no goal to achieve in his life. So he had made it his mission to tell the tale and educate children on other planets, mostly the newfound Altea, how their universe was saved.

Or was it?

Somehow, Lance had ended up here. With Kosmo, in the middle of the garden of his house. The place he should have turned into a crop field by now.  
Only meters from here should be lots of juniberrie´s that reminded him of Allura, but as Lance looked around, all he saw were pots filled with different vegetables.  
Like his parents used to do when he was around the age of fifteen.

Did Lance travel back in time? Lance considered this for a second. It would not surprise him, if it was not for the fact that Kosmo was still with him. And looked so different, yet familiar.

Then a parallel universe perhaps? But he had not left the field or his house for weeks, he had not called red to travel with him through some kind of portal or something.  
He would know. The headache may feel similar to the last time it happened, but it was far less intense.

He took a deep breath, as he continued to calm Kosmo down with soft whispers. Kosmo was barely a normal dog now, right?  
That meant he could not portal himself to different locations. That´s why he was so panicked. Of course that made sense.

Slowly, Lance got up, ignored the aching of his bones and stretched for the first time of what felt like forever.  
He then inspected his arms that were visible with only the thin T-shirt. Lance knew, his arms and hands should be calloused from all the hard work on the field, but these arms were not.  
There were no scars from the war. No muscles from hard training. Nothing that indicated that he did anything other than lay around in the grass all day. Except for his ankle. When he put up the seams of his jeans, he saw a giant bite mark, leaving small trails of blood behind. Only now, the stabbing pain hit in and Lance hissed despite himself.

Of course, he was used to worse wounds, but he could tell, the bite had strained his bones. He should probably take care of that as soon as possible.  
Wait, had Kosmo bitten him? Incredulous Lance stared at Kosmo, who was currently inspecting the wound and trying to lick it clean.

Perhaps, Lance wondered, he should worry a bit more about this situation, rather then the small wound. Then again, he had been through worse than waking up in a totally healthy, younger body of himself.  
He was not even alone. Maybe, if he searched for the others, namely Pidge, Hunk, Shiro or Keith, he may find some answers.  
Maybe they woke up here to? Or if this was a parallel universe, they could help him return to his own?  
Lance sighed. This was an adventure.  
One he had not asked for. And yet, he could not help himself, he smiled. He may enjoy this for a bit.

\---------------

Had Kosmo bitten him? The answer came sooner than expected, as Lance sat down on the grass again, as the giant dog brought him a stick. “Smart thinking, Kosmo.”, Lance approved and pet his head.  
Shortly after, he took of his shirt and ripped it into pieces. He placed the stick on the inside of his ankle and wrapped the fabric around it tight, if only to secure the bone.  
He should definitely go and see a doctor. Then again, he was not gonna crawl back home.

“McClain!”, a voice, a familiar voice shouted at him. In an instant Lance turned around, a giant smile already growing on his face.  
“Keith!”, he shouted, almost in delight at the sight of his scowling friend.

Keith, out of breath and irritated at the sight, hurried to grab Kosmo by the choker.  
Kosmo was instantly growling at Keith, though his owner did not seem to notice.

“Geez, Kosmo, calm down. He bit you, didn´t he?! Fuck, I told you McClain not to get near him.”, Keith snarled, eyes raised at Lance in agony.  
Lance´s eyes widened in surprise, his smile falling from his face.

“What are you talking-”, he wanted to ask, but Keith already pointed his finger at him.

“I swear, McClain. I know it´s my fault for letting him run of like that, but it´s completely on you that he can´t stand you – why are you shirtless?”  
Keith stared at him with wide eyes, as Lance tried to figure out what was going on. He spared a glance at Kosmo who was still struggling to get off the hands of his owner.

“Because – he bit me, I suppose?”, Lance asked confused, unsure of himself.  
Keith looked down on Lance´s ankle, which was covered in shirt.  
He did not respond.

So Lance sighed, and stood up, much to Keith´s surprise, it seemed. Lance tried to balance his weight on his feet again. It still hurt like hell, and he winced a little at the pain, but the most damage was under control.

“Hey, ehm, Keith. You wanna come in?”, Lance asked gently. He had not seen Keith in weeks now, since he last left with the remains of the Blade.  
This Keith, as he took from Kosmo´s reaction was not the Keith Lance grew to get along with. Still, it was nice to see a familiar face, even though the scar on his face was missing.  
And the gawking was definitely unnecessary.

“What?”, Keith asked, much the intelligent man he was. Or rather boy? He could not be older then 17. Lance blinked. He was about half a year younger than Keith, if you did not count the two year gap the quantum abyss grew on him.

“You wanna come in? I´m sure you may want something to drink. You ran all the way here, right?”, Lance asked, trying to sound kind.

“I live right across from you, you prick.”, Keith frowned, already trying to get Kosmo back to his house again.  
Kosmo could barely fight it and whined in response.  
Lance stared for another second. “You do?”, he asked, louder than anticipated, but it did not keep the smile from his face.  
He had always hoped Keith would live close to him after the war, after all they´ve been through.

“Yes, ever since I moved in three years ago, if you remember.”

“You living with Krolia?”, Lance asked, hoping that if this was another reality, Keith would at least have his mom with him.  
Keith opened his mouth in confusion.  
“You mean, the general officer Krolia who helped take down the Galra? Why the fuck would I live in the same house as her?  
Did you hit your head or something?”

Keith did not sound worried, more annoyed then anything.

“I live with Shiro and Adam now. YOU know that.”

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but shook his head again. “Ok, fine. That´s all I needed to know.”, he said and pet Kosmo´s head one more time.  
Keith wanted to slap his hand away, clearly angry now, but Kosmo growled at him again.

Keith stopped and let go of his choker, all while staring at his dog in confusion.

“It´s fine, Komso.”, Lance put his hands on Kosmo´s head in a soft motion, clearly ignoring the startled face Keith send his way.  
Kosmo´s growl turned into a soft purr. “I´m pretty sure we somehow ended up in another universe and I know you can sense it´s not your Keith, but I bet he´ll be taking good care of you.  
Just go with him, or else he´ll worry himself sick.  
You know how to find me, if something is wrong, okay?!”, he said.

The gawking on Keith´s part only worsened with every word.

“Who the fuck are you trying to prank this time, Lance?”, he asked, clearly unsettled by the way Kosmo calmed down at Lance´s hands.  
A second later Kosmo turned his way, ears thrown back in anticipation as he slowly approached Keith as though seeing him for the first time.

“What did you do to my dog!”, Keith growled, clearly ready to fight. Priorities, Keith. Priorities.

Lance raised an eyebrow in suspicion, as he slowly and carefully stood up again.  
“I talked to him. Kosmo is smart, don´t let his puppy eyes fool you.”, Lance grinned.  
Keith seemed to consider to say something for a second, looking back at Lance´s ankle one more time before shaking his head and leaving.  
Kosmo followed close behind, turning one more time for the waving Lance, before admitting defeat.

Lance´s hand stopped midair. So much for not being alone in this one. In a sigh, he scratched his neck and limped back towards his house. His parents house.  
Where his mother stood in the kitchen, clearly upset about something. But her eyes turned worried as soon as she noticed Lance´s ankle.  
A second later she turned sour already, causing Lance´s smile to falter once more.

“Lance, Leandro McClain. What is that on your face? And what the hell did you do to you shirt?!”, she demanded to know. Just like a mother would when her teenager son had played with fire or didn´t do the dishes or something like that.

Lance smiled kindly and apologetically at her.  
“Sorry, I got bitten by a dog.”

His mother huffed and rolled her eyes. “I´m taking it it was that Kogane´s dog again? I told you not to annoy him.”  
Lance looked at her in confusion.  
“I didn´t do anything.”, he said earnestly.

“It does not matter. You will pay for that shirt, you understand! You will help your father in the garden for at least one week, you understand!”

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but had to held himself back from laughing. In his universe he was a freaking farmer. How was gardening a thread?  
“Yes.”, he said, eager to hide his face from her now.

“Now show me that bite. I´ll clean it for you. I swear, if it´s like the last thing you had last week, you´re grounded. I will not have you screaming in my house for another splinter!”, she scolded.

Lance´s humor spiked up at that.  
“Don´t worry, I can handle it. Just get me the first aid kit please, that would be nice.”

His mother scoffed, but rolled her eyes. Clearly less worried now that her son didn´t seem to make a fuss for once.  
As she got the first aid kit, Lance unwrapped his ankle as he put his foot on the next chair, finally pulling of his shoes. The pain was still there, the feeling of swelling and pounding and heat making it almost unbearable. Then again, Lance had survived an explosion of a bomb before. The scars of the splinters and burns were still on his back. Wait, not in this universe, right?  
Mentally, this was nothing, Lance decided.

He carefully put of the fabric that was almost glued to the open wound. Yep, he should totally go and see a doctor.  
The fabric was full of blood and dirt and grass and Lance knew if he didn´t hurry, it would probably get infected.

As soon as that thought hit him, he heard a metallic clank on the floor, as his mother just returned and stared at his ankle.

Her jaw hanging open in shock as her features were taken over by worry and regret.  
“Oh, god Lance. What – I will -”

“I´m fine mom. Just get me some alcohol or something? I need to disinfect this.”

“I-”  
“Mom?”, Lance pleaded silently. Smile still on his face. His mother stared at the ankle, unable to rip her eyes of the wound.  
Then finally, she nodded and went into the storage room close to the kitchenette.  
A second later she gave her son the bottle or clear liquid. Lance raised an eyebrow at the bottle.

“Dad´s been drinking again?”, he asked, slightly confused. His father used to have a drinking problem when he was a child. However, when his youngest son had disappeared, so his sister Veronica had told him, he had stopped. Not even touched a glass of beer again. Why? Lance never asked. But it was one good thing that came with the war.

His mother nodded slowly, confused by the question.  
Lance sighed. “I´ll better go outside. I don´t want to spill all of this on the floor.”, he said, already humping towards the glass door that lead into the backyard. A bit unnecessary, really. Blood was already covering the chair.

Moments later he went outside, opened the bottle and hissed at the stinging pain and the burning the liquid brought with it.  
“Ah, memories.”, he murmured to himself, smiling as the burn finally subsided.

As he turned around, limping his way back inside, he reconsidered his actions again. If he went inside like this now, the floor would be all wet.  
He sighed and sat down at the ground again. Feeling weird with the bottle of alcohol in one hand, waiting for the wind to dry his wound.

He put the bottle aside, watching a cat run across the small playground his parents still couldn´t let go of. Despite the fact that Lance was already 17 years old and the youngest in the family and they really didn´t need a swing set anymore.

This was a world where his younger self never went to space, he just realized. And for some reason, Keith and his dog did not seem to like him much.  
Perhaps Hunk and Pidge would be more nice to him? Then again, were those two even here somewhere? At least he knew where Shiro was, according to Keith.  
Must be nice for him. Now that his fiancé was not dead here.

Lance sighed.  
Finally, his mother looked outside the door, holding the first aid kit out to him.  
“You should really, really need to see a doctor with this foot.”, she said carefully, as though she was always treating him like glass here. Which Lance already knew she didn´t.

Lance chuckled as he accepted the gift.  
“I will, don´t worry. Clearly I´ve been through worse before.”, he said, not bothering to worry about his word choices.

“Yes, sure.”, his mother eyed him suspiciously, the unspoken question heavily hanging over them.

“Here, let me show you how to apply the-”, she stopped mid sentence as Lance applied a proper bandage around his ankle. As though he had done this a thousand times before.  
Which he had.  
More than once had he treated insured children, soldiers, women, men of all ages and species. He could handle a small dog bite.

As he was finally done, he moved his ankle again, not even flinching at the pain.  
“Yes, definitely a contusion. Mom, can you drive me to the hospital please?” His mom stared at him once more, opening her mouth with another question as she nodded in agreement and helped him up again.

At least, Lance thought, he had a place to stay in this universe. He was not in a hurry to get back to his own, so perhaps, he should take this as a vacation.

\----------------

AU-Keith´s POV:

Kosmo was sitting in the corner of the living room of Shiro´s and Adam´s house.  
The three of them sat at the other corner of the room. It was clearly a sight to behold. Three men watching a dog from a safe distance.

“He has been like this ever since you came back?”, the man with utter black hair asked.

Keith nodded.  
“Apparently, he went to the McClain´s, bit that idiot and soon after they were suddenly best buds? I don´t really get it.  
Lance was mumbling something about a parallel Universe, but I bet it´s just one of his usual shenanigans. Like back when he claimed he saw mermaids and shit.”

Shiro nodded in understanding.  
Adam, however, did not look pleased at all. “Kosmo bit him?”, he asked, clearly worried.

Keith shrugged his shoulders. “I did not see a wound, because he bandaged it with his shirt so I cannot say for sure, but yes. I would not be surprised if he did.”

Adam sighed, glaring at Kosmo now who raised his tail in an angry response.  
“You do know he could sue us for that, right?”, Adam warned.

Keith looked up at him in shock. “Seriously? It´s just a dog bite.”, he said defensively.  
Adam turned at him once more. “If a dog bites a human, it´s not uncommon that the dog will be sentenced to death, Keith. Law demands to take human safety above that of a dog. We may get in serious trouble for this.”  
Keith paled at that.  
“Seriously? Fuck.”

\------------------

Lance POV:

Lance got a crutch. His mother had rambled so much to the doctor that Lance was the one who had to calm her down. An act that seemed to stir her up even more.  
Anyway, Lance finally knew now, that his Parallel Universe version of himself still went to school. To the Garrison, to be ironic. But as Lance and her got home again, and he figured out his alternate self had the exact same password on his laptop as Lance had used for years now, he searched up the homepage of his school.  
His room was still in the same place it had always been, too.

On the website was, to his relief, a list of school books, the location of the school on google maps and teachers, some of whom he recognized. He also found out that this school was a normal high school.

In his schoolbag, that lay abandoned on his bed, he found his time table and a very much not organized mess inside. Thankfully, it seemed to be the beginning of the school year and his alternate self had left the names of his teachers and the room numbers written next to the occasional “history sucks class”.

What bothered him most of his room was probably the smell, as though no one had opened a window in here in years. Not to mention all the dirty laundry and trash littering around everywhere. Somewhere, thrown in some random corner were his books and sheets of paper and literally anything messy you can imagine.  
At the mere sight, Lance instantly took measures into his own hands and cleaned up first his bag and soon after his room.

Lance may have to use crutches, but he was no hermit.

He was used to order ever since he learned the military drill in the Garrison and scoffed as he imagined himself living in this dump.  
He opened his window and began cleaning.

It was long passed lunch time when he finally finished. Cleaning up served as stress relief and information gathering all the same. He had found things he remembered from his own home, but also things he could not recall ever having in his possession.  
Like the Nintendo Switch that lay abandoned right next to his TV. Lance could not even recall possessing a TV. Mostly because the TV was an old model from perhaps the early 21th century.  
Lance lived in the 24th century.  
They had phones that were basically just two metal sticks with a holoscreen. You could even adjust the size if you wanted to.  
Who needed a TV?

But his now au phone had also been an old fashioned design (Still, the same password) and the date, indeed implied that he was landed somewhere in the 21th century. Great.

Lance turned his phone that was about the size of a chocolate bar around. To find the switch to turn it on had not been easy.  
But he was glad he had not lost it somewhere on the grass field.

In his contacts he found a few numbers. His mother (his father did not even own a phone, lol), his siblings and other than that, only one more number.  
Hunk.  
“Thank god.”, Lance breathed out heavily. At least one person he could still talk to.

After searching a bit, he found their last chat conversation. Apparently Hunk wrote him on Friday morning.

“Will you stand up please? We´re late, again!”, Hunk wrote.  
Lance raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

He should have layed down that behavior quite some time ago. He never slept in late anymore, ever since Zarkon had used the Black lion as a tracking device for Voltron and interrupted them literally every five minutes when they had just wormholed themselves out of a particular nasty situation.

Lance sighed once more, as he started typing a few words in.

“Hey, Hunk? Are you going to drive me to school tomorrow, please?”

“And why would I do that”, Hunk replied after about ten minutes.

“I sprained my ankle. I can neither drive nor walk to school. I promise I won´t be late this time.”, Lance eagerly replied.

“You said so last week, too and failed me every freaking day, Lance.”

Lance stared at his phone. Even Hunk seemed mad at him? That was new. And an incredible hard task to accomplish.

“What can I do to convince you?”

“I´ll trust you again the day you finally clean your room, that´s when.”

Lance chuckled at the ironic demand.  
“You sound like my mom.”

“Good.”

Wanna see a magic trick?”

“No.”

Lance grinned, and immediately send a photo of the newly cleaned room.

“What is – is that your room?”

“You´ve got great timing. Now, you gonna catch me up tomorrow?”

“...

7.20 am. DON´T be late.”

Just like that, Lance sighed in relief. Now he was really glad he cleaned his not-his-room.  
He singsonged to himself a careless tune. Vacation, yeah right. This universe seemed to hate him somehow.  
Then again, it was kinda fun seeing the reactions of everyone as soon as he opened his mouth, but whatever.

For example, he had to ignore his mom as she looked at him skeptically, if still worried, as he took out his laundry to the washroom.  
Her eyes widened even more, as he started washing it.  
He had never seen her this shocked in his entire life. Then again, he was surprised to find the laundry machine was still the same that he was used to in his future- universe- timeline. Apparently phones got an update every two month´s or so, but washing machines? Nah, leave them classic.

The day (according to his phone it was Sunday) ended slowly. Lance had not eaten all day, despite all his hard work and the pain that seemed to worsen his ankle with every step, but he still did not feel hungry, as he started reading through the last notes he must have made in class.

Though it looked like nonsense, mostly.  
Scribbled sketches everywhere, even on stuff that he was to just copy from the chalkboard. No order, everything was a mess.  
Then again, if Alternate- Lance was as awful in school as his F+ graded essay on his last English test claimed him to be, Lance was not too worried to mess up. He was not going to ruin his Parallel Universe´s entire reputation by just – being here. That was a relief Lance did not think he needed.  
Alternate Lance should thank him, should they ever meet.

A knock ripped him of the last sheet of paper he wanted to read, before he went on to his history book.  
“Yeah?”, he answered, not bothering to sit up from his chair. Usually he would, but with his ankle like that, he was allowed to be a bit selfish, right?

“Hey Lance, Mom called me, Dinner is ready if you want -  
did you clean your room?”, Veronica asked incredulous. She eyed him suspiciously, looking up and down, eyes fixed on his ankle for a while. Until they reached his face again.

“What are those things under your eyes?”, she asked confused.  
Lance blinked. “What things?”, he asked. Veronica pulled out a small make up mirror of her pocket, handing it to him. Lance took it in confusion as he stared at his mirror self.  
His entire features were the young Lance he remembered going to the Garrison. But his eyes were more stern, more determined, fierce and collected.  
They lacked the fire that he used to possess as a child who wanted nothing more than be a pilot. Now they were of a cold warmth, controlled, responsible.

And then he noticed what she had meant.  
He gasped as he sat up straighter. Underneath his eyes stared blue triangles back at him. The Altean marks. They happened to be on the same place they had appeared glowingly when she had dissipated into the entity.  
This was not Lances real body. Even though it was quite similar. He had not expected them to be here at this point of time.

It caused him to smile despite the sadness that returned with the thought. So he was clearly not alone. Allura, ironically had not left him.  
He still loved her. And he knew that she did too. Weird. He was in love with the entity. Perhaps that why he loved everything he saw around him.

This universe as well, was saved by his girlfriend once. He felt his heart tighten at the memory.

“Lance? Are you okay?”, Veronica asked in empathy, noticing the distress in her brother´s eyes.  
Lance sighed and shook his head. “Don´t worry, it´s a bit complicated, but they remind me of someone important.”  
Veronica looked at him oddly as it didn´t answer her question at all. If anything, it stirred more. Then she looked around his room again, as Lance handed her back her mirror.

“Mom said, she made Garlic knots, as an apology, because she didn´t take your wound serious. She wanted me to tell you, you´re dismissed from helping dad with the garden.”, she changed the topic.

Lance smiled gently at her.  
“Thank´s Veronica.” Again, he received an odd look. Maybe alternate Lance didn´t thank his sister much?

“You awfully nice today, Lance. You´ve never let me into your room before. You seem different, somehow.”, Veronica answered the unspoken question.

Lance smiled. “That may be, because I´m from another reality.”, he shrugged his shoulder, watching her serious expression shift to an annoyed one. Even her stand shifted, as she leaned onto her left side more and crossing her arms in judgment.  
“I swear to god, Lance. If word comes to me you made up another story like the one, were you met mermaids, I am going to rip your head off!”

Lance blinked, then a grin spread on his features. Memories. He hadn´t thought of Plaxum in quite a while. Then again, the mermaids had trouble traveling on land, he hadn´t met them since his visit somewhere around easter last year.  
“You know, mermaids do exist. Well, in the reality I´m from that is, of course.” He knew she would not believe him, no matter what he said. But it was so much fun watching her reaction.  
She sighed once more, nudged him on his head in a warning and left the room.

Lance wasn´t lying. Why would he lie anyway? Nobody would believe a thing he said and the Lance of this world was supposed to be a prank obsessed idiot.

However, this would make it a bit complicated to get help to get back to his universe.

He yawned loudly.

He stood up in a swift motion, about fifteen minutes later, grabbing his crutches at the same time and moved downstairs to the kitchen.

“Lance!”, his mom almost scolded. “you´ve been in your room the entire day again? You missed Dinner! That´s it, I´m confiscating your switch right now!”, she said angrily. Where was the concerned mom from this morning?

Lance yawned once more.  
“Fine, mom. I put it into the drawer under the TV, if you want to get it. I´ll be taking a short walk, if you don´t mind.”

He walked passed his mother who was silently staring at him again. Lance never missed Dinner. Especially not when his favorite food was on the table.  
But here he was, offering her his most expensive utensil without as much as a shrug as he walked outside, without even mentioning the delicious smell that was still hanging in the air.

Lance hadn´t eaten properly since Allura left. With the paladins of Voltron, he might be able to, but other than that he felt too tired to do anything but farming. Despite the exhaustion.  
He couldn´t help it. He just didn´t feel hungry at all today. Maybe, because he was using a body that was filled with chips and soda to the point he wanted to puke.

Lance didn´t plan for a long walk after that. All he wanted to do was seeing how different his neighborhood looked. Especially since Keith lived right across from him.  
He could see the motorcycle leaning against the garage door, it probably belonged to Keith.

It didn´t take long as he heard cursing and confused debating. Perhaps their kitchen was directly across the street. Lance hesitated, but decided against moving over. He felt slightly bad for leaving Kosmo alone with them.  
Should he have insisted to take care of him? Keith would have stabbed him to death. Or called the police.

\--------------------------

AU-Keith´s POV:

When Keith opened the door that evening, completely out of breath, he didn´t expect Lance to walk down the street. The young man walked slowly, leaning onto a crutch that he must have gotten this morning.

Keith didn´t know whether to feel amused, mad, sorry or afraid.  
For one, it was nice to see Lance getting what he deserved, then again, walking with that ankle must hurt as hell. If, and only if Lance was not faking it.  
After all it was Keith´s dog who had caused the bite and it was not impossible that it was actually there. Never the less, if Lance were to sue them, Kosmo would be in great danger.

Keith didn´t really have a choice. He had to talk to Lance. And while he turned back to his brother and Adam, listening one last time to their bitter attempts to get Kosmo to calm down, he had already made his decision.  
Kosmo only responded to Keith now, ever since Lance had told him to trust Keith. Which was a weird thought in itself, but whatever.

Keith jogged towards Lance, knowing fully well how the man would react upon seeing him. On the other hand, ever since this morning he wasn´t too sure what kind of prank Lance was pulling again. If Lance wouldn´t at least frown at Keith at his approach, he could be certain that either someone had died or Lance was planning something.

Sure enough, as Keith called out his name and Lance turned around, the usual frown was entirely missing. Instead, his face seemed to lighten up at his sight. Almost like this morning, Keith noted. It was irritating.

“Hey, Keith! Long time no see.”, Lance chuckled at the subtle joke, though it was not funny at all.  
“You out here for a walk, too?”

Keith came to a halt next to Lance, eyes furrowing. “No, not exactly.”, he started, slightly irritated how nice and gentle Lance´s smile appeared.  
Caring, even. Which, given the circumstances with Kosmo, did not make any sense.

“Want to join me?”, he asked. Puzzled, Keith opened his mouth, unsure what to say. Then again, he had to keep Lance on his good side.  
“If you´d like me to?”

Lance pat him on his shoulder in an almost intimate gesture. Now Keith was really on edge.  
“Actually, I wanted to ask you something.”, Keith started, slightly afraid by the answer.

They started moving, passing by the old houses of their neighborhood while the dawning sun left dark blue shadows on the occasional bushes and trees in front of them.  
It smelled like dry leafs and grass.

“Ask away.”, Lance encouraged him, with yet another smile in his direction.

“How´s your leg?”, Keith asked, unable to ask the actual question that was bothering him. Lance had the audacity to actually laugh at him.  
Pressing his mouth together into a thin line, Keith turned his head in angry embarrassment. He already regretted his decision to follow Lance here.

“Hey now.”, Lance nudged him in the shoulder. “No need to be so serious, Keith. It´s just a bite, It´s not even infected. Give me one or two weeks and my ankle is as good as knew. It was my fault for annoying Kosmo anyway. Well I guess that is what happened, to be honest I don´t even remember. It doesn´t matter anyway.”

Keith turned back at the smiling boy, irritation still growing. How did he not remember? Suspicion mixing into it causing him to talk before he could stop himself.  
“So you´re not going to call the police?”  
Lance´s smile dropped only a tiny bit at the suggestion, as he broke out laughing once more.

The sudden noise caught Keith off guard as Lance stopped walking and holding on to his crutch. It was not the laugh, Keith was used to. This one was open and honest and not at all like he was laughing about Keith, but at him instead. “Dude, for real, listen to yourself. Why the hell would I call the police when I´m the one provoking him. No, absolutely not.”, Lance assured him.

Keith kept staring in confusion. He wanted to doubt him. Heck, he should. It was basically his duty to doubt Lance. But something inside him told him, Lance could be trusted. Heck, it warmed at Lance´s smile and told him that he had to. Keith´s suspicion wavered. But only as much as he allowed it to.  
“I don´t believe you.”, Keith stated simply, uncertain whether he was telling the truth or lying.

Lance stopped laughing now, changing his good mood for a soft but serious expression. One that Keith was entirely unfamiliar with. It seemed so intimate, as though Lance trusted him with his life. The mere thought caused Keith to take a step back, because what the hell?

“Keith. I don´t know where you got that ridiculous idea, but I assure you, I have no intention or desire to get your dog in prison.  
I know you won´t believe me, no matter what I say, but I am not the Lance you know. Neither is the Kosmo in your house the Kosmo you know and raised. It sounds as though I´m pranking you, but I am really not. I understand that you don´t trust me. And you don´t have to.  
I just need you to accept that I have no ill intentions towards you.”

Lance started walking again, Keith following close behind, exes narrowing in certain suspicion now.  
“So, this is what you´re planning? Pretending you´re the Lance from another Universe? Is that it! Next thing you´re telling me is that there are mermaids too and humans have those ridiculous marks in their faces as you have right now?  
Perhaps you´re their hero and savior and we´re all bowing to you there? And you´re like, the kind and generous king or something?!”  
Keith´s proper intentions had completely left his mind now. Of course this Lance was making fun of him. Still, the accusations left him half hearted.

But then, Lance laughed again.  
“Far from it, actually. Though you´re not completely wrong.”, he said and caused Keith to growl.

“Actually, mermaids do exist there, yes. But on another planet made of water.”

Keith scoffed.  
“It´s true, honestly.”, Lance insisted. “It´s called the Baku. Hunk and I saved the mermaids from a mind controlling sea-serpent.”

Keith groaned. “I knew you´d make yourself the hero of your imaginative little world . Fine I got it. Congratulations.”  
Lance sighed, not at all pleased by his reaction.

“Anyway. No, humans don´t have Altean marks.”, Lance said. “Altean marks?”, Keith asked bemused. He certainly had heard that before.

“Yes. Altea was a planet that was destroyed ten thousand years in my timeline.  
Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, You and me found the blue lion, it´s a space ship, in a cave and flew with it to space. We woke up princess Allura from a cyro-sleep -”

“Ok stop.”, Keith took a deep breath in annoyance. “If you´re going to tell me that you and Allura are a couple in your world, I´m going to rip your head of.”  
Finally it was Lance who stared at him in a sadness that had Keith reeling with some kind of emotion. He toned it down for himself. Lance was not worth his empathy.  
“She – erm. She died.”, Lance whispered, hissing, as he tripped on his bandaged foot.

Keith stared back at him, unsure what to say. Lance was kidding of course. But Keith knew the lying Lance. Lance was the worst actor he had ever seen in his entire life.  
This Lance, this version of him that stared at the stars, truly believed what he was saying. Then again, maybe Keith didn´t know Lance all that well.

His curiosity was wide awake now, though. Why was Lance trying to prank them in the first place? And how was he making himself look so – honest and believable?

Lance coughed.  
“But none of you are bowing to me. I mean, what the hell do you think we were doing in space?”, Lance laughed.

“Kneeling, then.”, Keith paused. Should he really encourage this conversation?

“Of course not.”, Lance punched him in the shoulder again, with a soft punch.  
It startled Keith for a second. But the soft laugh did something to his insides. Keith fought it, but he couldn´t help the smile at the casual interaction. What was happening?

“No, no. I was merely there for your support. Pidge was our expert for technical stuff, Hunk our engineer, Shiro our leader for a while until you stepped up and Shiro retired -”,  
Keith interrupted him.  
“Wait? I was the leader in your story? I don´t believe you for a second.”, Keith shook his head, now the story was getting ridiculous. Lance would never give up on a chance to gloat.

“Well, what can I say. It´s true, we used to be enemies. Frenemies, if you so will. Though you barely knew I existed. It took a while for us to get where we are now. I had to step down from my high horse eventually, when the black lion choose you as our leader.  
Of course you didn´t want to accept. You´re too emo for that. Then you went into space for two years with your mom to bond and returned as the leader you were always supposed to be.  
It took some time, but eventually we became best friends.”

Lance kept walking. But Keith stood still where he was. Lance didn´t even notice.  
“Wait, what did you just say? Us, best friends? Are you serious?”, Keith ignored the comment about his mother. He really didn´t want to hear that.  
He expected Lance to laugh at him again. Until Lance turned around. Suddenly the street lamps turned on, like they did at 11 pm in this town and illuminated Lance´s smiling face in it´s bright light and for a second Keith felt blinded.  
“Of course. We make a great team.”

Something stirred inside Keith, a flush spread towards his face. And Keith realized that he was blushing.

Because the Lance that looked at him wore a fond expression, instead of the mocking one he usually wore. And that was a look Keith slowly realized, he wanted to see on Lance. Despite everything.  
Keith shook his head and sighed it off.

“I´ll – I should get back. Shiro is probably worried. And Kosmo is on the loose, I -”

“Oh, that´s fine. I´ll go with you. I didn´t plan for a long walk anyway. We´ve been walking for twenty minutes already, my leg is starting to hurt.  
Maybe I can calm Kosmo down for you? He´s probably not used to the whole not being able to teleport thing yet.”

“Tele- argh whatever.”, Keith shook his head. ,Don´t encourage him even more.´, his mind reminded him a little late. His cheeks were still burning after all, as Keith tried to force it down.

So they went back the whole way. Silence had washed over them now as darkness settled in the streets. The tall trees with their green and purple leafs suddenly shadows of themselves.  
Every branch on the grass a potential snake and every sound twice as loud as before. Only the occasional street lights shone a light on them. But they also deepened the shadows.  
It started getting colder.  
And neither of them wore a jacket. Of course not. It was surprisingly warm september.

An owl flew passed them and Lance watched it with a soft smile. In fact, it seemed like Lance was watching every single thing as though it was a beautiful breathing creature.  
Keith felt himself staring at the odd expression.

Did it matter? That this Lance sounded and looked like an honest version of himself? He was lying. Like he always was. Still, something was different and Keith felt it. Craved it.

Finally, as they already began shivering from the cold and the stars disappeared in the wakening of rain, they returned to Keith´s home.  
Shouting and annoyed gasps were heard through the whole neighborhood. The light was still on in the kitchen and they could see Kosmo standing in front of Shiro through the window. Something long and heavy in his mouth.  
It was evident that it must be Shiro´s prosthetic, because the taller man had lost his nerves and was holding his right shoulder that was missing a limb.

“Holy crap.”, Lance muttered and sped up. Now Keith smiled a little. This must look hard on Lance, after all how could Lance know about Shiro´s missing arm?  
Keith ripped the door open as Lance half limped, half hopped next to him to keep up his pace.

“Kosmo!”, Keith yelled, but the dog only flinched in anger and mistrust.  
“Keith, finally. Where have you -”, Shiro lost his relief at his words as Lance stumbled in right behind Keith.

And then, something weird happened. At least to Keith and Shiro it was weird, because Kosmo sprinted through the two of them and suddenly jumped onto Lance. Lance, falling on his butt, started laughing as the prosthetic fell into his lap and Kosmo started licking his face.

Keith held his breath. This – this was impossible.  
Lance could fake his own personality, of course. But Keith knew Kosmo and Kosmo hated Lance. He despised him.  
Whatever was going on right now, was absolutely out of the ordinary. And it made Keith consider. Though he wasn´t sure what he was considering.

He searched for Shiro´s eyes for help, but Shiro had sat down at the sight in absolute shock.

“Geez, Kosmo, please let go. Argh, you´re hurting me.”, Lance was still giggling out of breath. But Kosmo let go of him. That didn´t stop him from wiggling his tail in utter happiness.  
“I told you to be nice!”, Lance pointed his finger at him, still smiling but with a serious tone.

Kosmo sat down, barking once as he looked back at Shiro. Then he barked again.  
“Kosmo, look. I know, I know. But this is not Kuro, alright!”  
Kosmo nudged at the prosthetic. Lance took it into his hand, inspecting it. “Wow, you´re right, this is garbage.”

“Please don´t tell me you understand what he says!”, Keith groaned. All his initial trust gone in one swift motion.  
Shiro turned at him, his neck almost cracking at the dumb question.

“What- no of course not. But he understands what I´m saying. Anyway, Shiro, honestly. You need a new prosthetic. I know the 21th century is far behind on technology but this is practically wood. You should definitely talk to Pidge. I bet they can get you a better one.”

Shiro opened his mouth in confusion, before he answered, pointedly ignoring the 21th century comment.  
“Who is Pidge?”  
“Matt´s sibling? Pidge Gunderson, Katie Holt, Tomato, tomato.”

Shiro contemplated Lance´s words for a second, before answering.

“Katie? She can´t be Pidge, she´s fifteen!”  
“And the smartest person I know.”  
Lance held Shiro´s eye contact in earnest.  
Lance should not know about Katie´s alias, Keith startled. It was the name they used for small inventions that they sold online. It was a pseudonym only Keith and Matt knew about.  
Shiro didn´t, but he had heard of Pidge Gunderson. And as he realized that, Shiro stood up again, his one arm falling uselessly to his side.

And another thing. Pidge was nonbinary, sure, but they had not outed themselves publicly yet. There was absolutely no way Lance could know about this. Especially since Katie never talked about it. And there was no way, Lance of all people would respect them like that.

“You mean -”

“I think you should go, Lance.”, Keith finally insisted. The feeling of wanting to believe Lance was returning and he was not having this right now.

“Oh, sure. I´m sorry for the intrusion.”, Lance nodded at Keith in an apologetic way, even though he seemed not to know what he was apologizing for.  
He stood up slowly then, holding his crutch firmly as he did so and turned to Kosmo again.  
“I´ll visit you tomorrow, I promise. So, be still and nice and don´t annoy Shiro and Adam all night, okay?  
And -”, he shot a smile at Keith. “Be kind to Mullet here as well.” Then he returned the prosthetic to Shiro.

Keith huffed, as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. Back to the insults already? Was Lance slipping his act?  
Then again, it sounded more like an endearing nickname than an insult.

Keith moved his arm in a wide gesture for Lance to show him the door. Lance nodded at him and turned. Soon after the door shut behind him and he was gone. Through the window, they could barely see anything, as you cannot see much when it´s lighter inside than outside.  
But, as Lance passed the street lamp between their houses, Keith could see Lance turning once more and waving at them.

Kosmo sat still in his position. Looking at them with a disappointed look. But he didn´t complain or hesitate as Shiro send him into his small corner in the kitchen. Where blankets made a fine sleeping quarter for him.

“What the fuck?”, Shiro cursed under his breath as he inspected his prosthetic with a confused glare.

“Don´t even ask. I have no idea what´s going on.”, Keith shook his head. “All I know is he won´t sue us for the bite. Other than that he is insane! I think he finally lost it.”  
This was quite far from the truth actually. Was Kosmo´s behavior not indication enough?

But you cannot erase a whole decade of hate and bantering by just that.  
Still, Keith found his fierce wall crumbling already. Lance and him, best friends. A ridiculous thought.

\----------------

Lance´s POV:

It was 7: 15 am when a car parked outside the McClain household.  
And Lance was already waiting outside. His bag ready in one hand, his jacket loosely on his shoulders. It had taken him a while to find clothes that actually fit him. Everything else were baggy clothes. Which were annoying to wear.  
Lance was used to thin spandex clothes or a simple tight jeans with a shirt. Not oversized hoodies with joggings.  
Jeans and shirt it was. The look of his parallel universe mom had been hilarious.

As was Hunk´s as he saw Lance approaching him. Lance was still limping, crutch in hand, greeting Hunk with a nod, as he could barely move his arm, with the bag still in hand.

Hunk´s car was an rusty oldtimer Lance couldn´t place in his knowledge book. Maybe, because in his time all cars drove on electricity rather than fuel. And by the smell he could tell this car was probably older than Hunk himself.  
The silver had long lost it´s shine from the dust and mud was covering it´s wings. And the color was bleached from long exposures in the sun.

Lance sat down his bag and opened the door opposite to Hunk in a swift motion and sat himself on the seat.  
Hunk stared at him up and down, eyebrows raised to infinity.

“You – what are you wearing?”, Hunk asked incredulous.  
Lance looked down on himself as he heaved his bag inside, clothing the door. “Pants, I guess? I am wearing pants, am I?”, Lance joked as Hunk shook his head. Pointedly ignoring Lance´s odd behavior.  
Then he sighed and drove off.

“Alright, I´m glad you´re finally punctual for once, but why did you paint Allura´s marks on your face?”, he asked.  
Lance put his hand on his marks, feeling no paint.

“What do you mean? Wait, how do you know of Altean marks?”

“Don´t be ridiculous Lance. We all know the Altean´s are born with these birth marks. Allura is going to kill you for mocking her family.”

Lance did not respond. So that´s why Keith had not asked him who Allura was the day before. She lived here  
“Lance!”, Hunk tapped the wheel in annoyance.

“I. eh. I don´t know. I did not paint them there.”, Lance said earnestly, the heaviness filling his stomach once more.

Hunk spared him a single glance once more, then he licked his thumb and tried to wipe the mark off of Lance´s face.  
“Urgh, Hunk, that´s gross, what are you doing?” Lance flinched, trying to avoid the wet finger. But failed miserably.

Hunk´s eyes stirred at him now. “What the hell, Lance. Please tell me those are not tattoo´s.”  
“They are not tattoo´s! Though, I cannot remove them from my face.”, Lance mumbled the last part.

“Dude, I know you have a crush on Allura, but don´t take it too far. She can and she will hurt you if you give her a reason.”

Lance nodded, no mocking comment towards Hunk. Despite everything Hunk had just said, he did not mean to upset Lance.  
“I – fine. Sorry, Lance. Just be careful.”

“Alright, alright. I get it.”, Lance continued the silence after that. And Hunk, not used to a quiet Lance at all, felt himself fidgeting in the driver´s seat.

The forty minute drive through the village towards their high school seemed to take forever, but nowmatter what Hunk wanted to ask, it was stuck in his throat.  
Something about Lance was off. Hunk had a great sense for people. Lance, the Lance he knew, had the energy of a rabbit. Quick in his movements and ready to move at any second, while his temper was that of a kicked puppy.  
This version of Lance, he felt like the beaten up version of a retired box champion. Or soldier. Like a young widower who had lost his purpose in life.

It felt like an entirely different person sitting right next to him. And the thought slightly scared him.

The school yard had an entire parking lot for students only.  
When you came on short notice, spots were normally taken already, so others just parked on the grass somewhere farther off. Of course, parking was forbidden there, but students had nowhere else to park. And the town didn´t do anything against it.

Hunk cut off the engine and helped his friend out of the car. Lance smiled at him and thanked him politely, as he humped towards the school building.

Hunk walked next to him, trying to ignore the stares that seemed to follow them everywhere they went.  
Who would be surprised? Lance was clothed normally, had a bandage on his foot, greeted people he didn´t even know politely and wore those stupid Altean marks on his face.  
It wouldn´t be long until Allura would eventually hear about this.

But since class was about to start, nobody approached them as they were in a hurry themselves.  
“Hey, ehm, Hunk, you do know Pidge, right?”

“Pidge? Pidge Gunderson, the genius engineer? I´ve heard of them, but only online, why?”

“I see. Just asking. I needed their help with something.”, Lance shook his head.

“Wow, sure okay. Ehm, maybe you can ask me?”

Lance looked at him in suspicion. “No offense, buddy. You are a genius cook and engineer, but I need Pidge. They are smart enough to figure out the functions of a Galran´s battle cruiser in like an hour at first sight.”

“Did you just compliment and insult me at the same time?”, Hunk stared at him again, in confusion.

“What? I did not insult you! It´s just a fact. You would agree if you knew them.”

Hunk shook his head, this wasn´t helping. “Come on, Lance. Professor Slav is waiting probably. God, why is he always so early … , Lance?”

“Did you just say, Professor Slav?”  
“Yes, why?”

Lance did not answer. Suddenly he hurried towards the building.  
“Lance, wait up! You´re going in the wrong direction!”, Hunk called after him and sighed as he lead Lance the right way this time. Trying to ignore the troubled look on his face.

Professor Slav, as it turned out, was not an alien, so Lance noticed as they entered their first class. Physics.  
The man seemed to have passed the age of 40 already, he was surprisingly small and skinny, and had the face of a bird.  
His droppy eyes gave you the impression that he was usually on edge and paranoid.

But maybe Lance just thought that, because the Slav he knew was exactly like that. Even though he had eight arms instead of two.

“Garret, McClain, please sit down. You´re late.”

Lance looked at the clock that hung above the chalk board. “Actually, we´re five minutes early.”, Lance replied politely. A collective groan was heard from the rest of the class.

“Maybe in your reality, McClain.”, a familiar voice whispered from the front row.  
“Oh, hey, morning, Keith.”, Lance greeted him with a cheery smile.

Heads turned at them and Keith shrunk at his desk in embarrassment. Even Hunk stared at him.

“Please, sit down.”, Slav demanded.  
“We cannot start class late. Do you know in how many different realities that would cause a world wide war?!”

Lance smiled despite himself. “I´ll take it, the chances are a little around 28%?”

Slav stared at him in confusion. “12, 2456%, to be vague, McClain.”

Lance nodded in serious understanding. “How high are the chances something bad will happen, if I were to seek you out after class for a few questions?”

Slav narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion. “A little less than 2%”, he answered with a daring sense to him.

“So it may be okay to ask you some then?”

Lance was well aware of the eyes that were still lingering on him. Because Lance´s voice held a barely mocking tone to them. Most of his attention seemed genuine.  
Slave stroke his beard in consideration at that.  
“Maybe. But after class, now sit down.”

Lance nodded thankfully and followed Hunk to their seats, directly behind Keith. Who sat right next to – Pidge.  
Lance, who only noticed them in this very moment, opened his mouth to say something again, but shook his head as Slav was beginning an, admittedly, boring class.

\------------------

Two painful lessons of physic later (Lance was taking notes the entire time, he had to catch up somehow, after all), the ringing of the bell released the students from their torture.

“Go ahead, Hunk. This may take some time. See you at lunch?”  
“Only if you find the right classroom.”, Hunk muttered. “Next period is gym class, right? I cannot exactly play sports anyway. I´ll ask Professor Slav for a written excuse. I saw the gym hall was on the other side of campus, right?”  
Hunk nodded in confusion.  
It was supposed to be a joke. Lance took it serious. Was Hunk right? Did Lance not know where he was supposed to go?

“Thanks. See you later.”  
With that, Hunk followed Keith and Katie outside, already trying to stir a conversation. For the first time since school started, Lance didn´t seem to stop him from that.

Lance waited until everyone else had left the room.  
Professor Slav was trying to organize his papers and didn´t even look at Lance. When Lance finally stood up and approached him, Slav almost jumped out of his skin.

“I´m sorry, Professor. I have a few questions regarding parallel universes.”  
“Alternate realities.”, Slav immediately corrected him.

“Yes, that. Right, I knew there was something wrong with my phrasing. Anyway. I was wondering if you believe it´s possible to travel between them.”

Slav looked at him in suspicion again. But as he didn´t find a sign of mockery or malice in Lance´s appearance, he decided to answer honestly.  
“Well, my belief is that realities are overlapping each other. Theoretically it would be possible. The borders of the realities are most likely made of some kind of energy. To surpass that you´d need a high amount of energy, which we cannot afford as of yet. Is that all you wanted to know?”

“No, I think I am not quite done yet.”, Lance admitted and sighed a bit. Slav raised his eyebrows again, wondering what the boy must be thinking. It looked like Lance had expected this answer.

“Well, as I understand, since the border is made of energy, it is possible to travel through it if you had a device that is made of exactly that energy.  
The energy is a life force that is called quintessence is and it is a living being. Creatures and objects are living and floating in it. If you were to extract, let´s say a metallic object from it, you could create a transportation device from it. With that travel would be possible.”, Lance slowly explained.  
Slav suddenly stopped sorting his papers.

“Do you have proof to back up your theory?”, he questioned.  
Lance hesitated, before he answered. “No. I don´t think I do. I just know it. But that is not what I meant. I – I was wondering if it was possible to switch personalities with your alternate reality counterpart. And how to reverse it.”

Slav stood up straight now. He was slightly taller than Lance, a slight bluish tone erupted from his skin, which irritated Lance for a second.

“Are you implying that you are from another reality.”, Slav turned mildly furious in tone.

Lance hesitated again, before he answered as honestly as he could.  
“I am. If anyone would believe it, it would be you, I think. You´re the only one I know who makes deductions of possibilities and probabilities of alternate realities in your free time. Actually, you were captured for the sole purpose of building weapons for the enemy for that reason.  
And I somehow ended up here yesterday morning.  
Well, me and a dog.

But we didn´t wake up in our own bodies. And, what´s more, we ended up here in an instant. We weren´t traveling at all.”

Slav stared at him and contemplated whether or not to believe Lance. His conscience decided on the latter. Then again, Lance had never shown any interest in his beliefs for alternate realities before. It may be ridiculous, but Slav failed to see how Lance could turn all this against him. His students already knew his ticks and talked about it behind his back.

“Well- I would assume that in that very moment, the alternate realities had been as close as they could ever be. The borders touching at a certain point, that must have been you and the dog. Perhaps you were at the very same places you were in your orignial realities as well. But you would have needed a certain indicator to travel you to another reality.  
And you said the energy, the quintessence is the life force. So I take it it must be in every living creature as well?”

Lance nodded.

“Then, I would assume that whatever indicator you had to travel the realities must have used specifically your life forces and switched them with your counterparts.”

Lance looked at him, seriously taking it in.  
“I see.”, Lance murmured. “So you´re saying, we somehow have to meet up in the same places in this world as our counterparts are in theirs, so we can switch back?”

Slav nodded slowly, irritation taking over is attempt to knowledge himself out of this conversation.

“But for that we must know how to communicate with them, don´t we. Damn, this is getting complicated. How high are the chances of us returning home?”

Slav kept fidgeting in his position, waiting for the joke that usually followed at any kind of conversation with Mr. McClain.

“I would say, if your theory is correct, it´s basically impossible. Overlapping realities is not something that happens everyday. And if you´re doing it wrong, you may end up in yet another reality. But as for communicating with another reality. If you were to find the indicator for your incident and someone intelligent enough to build a device for you, you might be able to contact your friends from the other side.”

Lance bit his thumb at that. “I would guess, the indicator may be the stone – well, thank you for your time, professor. I think I know what to do now.”  
Lance actually bowed a little. It was a habit he wasn´t even noticing anymore at this point. After all those diplomatic missions he attended before.

Slav froze on the spot as the young man exited the room. Lance´s theory sounded crazy. But it sounded like he had put a lot of thought into it or just accepted it as a fact.  
Maybe, Slav had to put some calculations into this. His papers were instantly forgotten, as he wiped the chalkboard clean and started.

\---------------------

AUKeith´s POV:

Hunk had followed him and Katie alias Pidge outside.  
He looked distraught, in thought and not at all present anymore. He was looking over his shoulder all the time, as though he was wondering when Lance would follow them outside.

“Guys, I think Lance is broken.”, he finally stated, as the fidgeting just started to get annoying.

Katie rolled their eyes, tapping at something in their phone.  
“He´s just being his annoying confident self. Maybe he´s planning a prank. Who cares. Nothing new.”

“No, I´m serious. He looks and acts like a total stranger to me. I have never seen him this depressed before. It´s unsettling. As much as he likes to be obnoxious, something is completely wrong with him.”

Katie sighed and put their phone away. “You´re overreacting. He´s probably just trying to impress Allura.”, they huffed.  
“Keith, what do you think. I´m right, aren´t I?”

Keith hesitated to reply. He scratched his arm before he did so. “Actually, I think Hunk is right.”, he confessed.

Now Katie looked at him incredulously. “What do you mean?”

Keith sighed as well now, sitting down on a bench that stood right across the entrance of the school. Hunk and Katie followed suit.  
Hunk looked at him in interest, trying to guess what Keith was hinting at.

“He´s – acting more strange than usual.”, Keith started vaguely, noticing how the attention focused on him even more. It made him nervous.

“Yesterday, he got bitten by Kosmo. But instead of shouting at me for letting Kosmo escape in the first place, he seemed – happy to see me?”

Katie raised an eyebrow at that. “That´s all?”

“No!”, vehemently, Keith shook his head. “Ever since then, Kosmo has only ever listened to him. I don´t know why, but he talks to Kosmo as though he understands him.  
He didn´t even mention the bite after that. You know Lance, he would have made a fuss of it immediately. He´s walking with a crutch for god´s sake!”

“Maybe he´s faking it?”

“I don´t think so. He would have made it more obvious then. Relied on our empathy. He actually apologized to me for provoking Kosmo. And he´s talking about being a parallel universe version of himself, where we´re friends. All of us. He said, that I was his best friend. And his superior. He called me a leader.”

Katie stared at him in suspicion, but something about his explanation made them furrow their eyebrows.

“Yesterday.”, they murmured.

“Yes. Plus, he knows stuff, he should not be aware of.”, Keith insisted, side eyeing Hunk before implying what Lance had said before.

“And what could he probably know that someone like Lance could never know? Your favorite color?”, Katie grinned, but Keith looked at her in earnest.

“The true identity of Pidge Gunderson.”

Katie´s eyes widened. “He, he said it?”  
“Yes, Katie, he did. And he sounded as though it was common knowledge to him.

Hunk glanced between them. “Pidge Gunderson is an alias? And you two know who it is?”, Hunk asked and Keith cursed.

Katie glared at Keith now. “You sure you didn´t just let it slip accidentally, like just now?!”, they murmured through gritted teeth.

“Positive. Sorry though.”

Suddenly an angry person stomped through the masses of crowds furiously.  
Allura, the high school role model, followed by her boyfriend Lotor went by them in a blurr. Hunk whispering under his breath. “Oh no.”

At the same time, Lance walked out of the school building. One bag in hand, the crutch in another.

“What is going on?”, Katie asked confused.  
“This Lance has Altean marks.”, Keith said, still uncertain what to make of this.

“Holy shit, he tattoo´ed them on his face?”, Katie almost laughed.  
Keith looked at Lance´s face from afar, eyes widening as he let his bag fall to the floor.  
Allura´s voice was loud and angry and Lotor behind her looked just as angry. But let his girlfriend handle things herself.

“He looks terrified by Lotor. Since when is Lance afraid of Lotor?”, Hunk asked. Remembering instances where Lance had stood up to the man on multiple occasions.

“What the hell, McClain?! Why the hell do you have Altean marks! I´ve told you multiple times now, I am NOT interested in you! Now cut the crap and get them off of your face.”  
Then, she stopped.  
“Are- are you crying?”

Whispers were growing louder and louder with each passing second as panic seemed to settle into Allura. “I-”, but she didn´t know what to say. Eyes and heads turned their way.

It was true, Lance was crying. Right in front of them. Not sobbing, not whimpering like you would imagine. It were just tears falling freely, as he looked at her as though he had never seen her before.

“You-”, he started, but stopped himself.  
Then, suddenly, a smile, the softest smile they had ever seen grew on his face. Slowly he stepped forward, put his hands on her shoulders.  
Allura stepped back a little, frightened by his actions as even Lotor looked flabbergasted.

“I´m so sorry.”, Lance said, hugging her closely.  
“I know, Allura, that you don´t like me. I´m just happy to see you alive.”, Lance said, almost two seconds after. “Take care of yourself.”  
He wiped of his tears, hugging her once more and turned towards the rest of the group soon after.

Allura turned for one more second, unable to answer at all.  
“Oh, and Lotor. Just – behave.”, Lance said, petting him on the shoulder, but Lotor already grabbed his arm.

“What is your deal, McClain. I demand an explanation!”, he hissed at him, curiosity lingering in his eyes rather than anger. Lance seemed to notice that.  
“I´d love to. But I doubt you´ll believe me. Don´t worry, I won´t bother her again.”

Lotor let him go after that, still uncertain what to make of this. But Lotor was a responsible and mature student. The last thing he would ever do was to use violence at someone who hadn´t even done anything other than being emotional in public.

“What, the, fuck, McClain?”, Katie huffed at him, as he approached.  
Lance looked at them, then to Hunk and then to Keith. “Wait a second. Hunk you said you don´t know Pidge?”

Katie, or rather, Pidge stepped back at that. Because Keith was right. Lance didn´t know what he was saying.  
“Because I don´t?”, Hunk asked confused, looking at Katie and Keith now.

“But they are right -”, Lance stopped, tilting his head in honest confusion.  
“in front of you.”, he finished lamely.

“Erm, Lance. You just – cried in front of everyone.” Keith interrupted, as the witnesses seemed to crowd on them now.

He looked at Lance nervously. Pidge raised her head at him. She was expecting Lance to smugly grin at him and explain in great detail whatever kind of tale just came to mind. But he looked at him seriously.  
“I haven´t seen her in years, so of course I would get emotional, wouldn´t I?”, he asked, closing on to Keith. Right into his bubble of casual distance.

Keith stepped back subconsciously. Lance seemed to notice his discomfort and stepped back a little.

“Well – ehm. It probably sounds a bit – like a lot crazy. I told you that Allura died in my reality, right? Well, she didn´t just die. She choose to give herself up to safe all the existing realities. You guys should have seen the place, it was beautiful outside the realm of -”

“Lance, the point!”, Keith reminded him. Lance coughed apologetically. “Well, when she left, she gave those marks to me, as a sign that she will always be there for me.”

“Wait a second. You mean, Allura. That Allura-”, Katie pointed at the flabbergasted role model that was listening to their conversation behind them with an incredulous look. “died to safe all realities?”

Lance followed her gaze and chuckled. “No. Not that Allura. Princess Allura of Altea. And she didn´t really die. She was able to use quintessence and decided that she would become part of the entity to restore all realities.  
You know what? Come with me somewhere more private. I´ll tell you everything.”

Lance turned again, the bell already ringing, but Keith, Hunk, Katie, Allura and even Lotor felt that they were included in this conversation and it couldn´t wait.  
Iversion would probably kill them for this, but who cares.

\-------------------

“I´m leaving.”, Allura said after Lance had finally finished. Class was almost over, but neither of them had realized that.

“Guess me too, then. By the way Lance. Next time you try to fool us, think of something realistic.”, Lotor said. There was no hint of actual malice in his voice. He was just done by the whole situation.  
Just like his girlfriend.

What would you expect? Lance had basically just told him that in another reality he was an obsessed bastard who committed homicide and massive betrayal to everyone who was ever dear to him.  
(A:N:// Please remember, in this story neither Lotor nor his parents were exposed to purple quintessence. They are absolutely harmless.)

Hunk shook his head, he just stood up and followed them. “Sorry Lance, but they´re right. Unless you´re admitting to your lies, I will not help you get home. I mean, I won´t drive you home. I´ll rather get to class. You better take the blame when Iversion calls us out on this.”

Next was Pidge. Who seemed fidgety. “Lance, of all the lies you´ve told, this was both the most ridiculous and most entertaining and thought through one. But I will not help you build a device to talk to people of another reality. It´s impossible and a waste of time.

And keep your mouth shut about my identity. I don´t know how you got to know about this, but I´ll remember you that I have lots of blackmail of you as well. So don´t even dare spread a rumor about me. Come on Keith, we´re done here.”

Keith hesitated for a moment. Lance didn´t even look at him. He didn´t seem to expect anything of him. “I, eh-”, he started, uncertain what to say.

“Keith, now. Ms. Reyner will chop our head of, if we´re late to biology again.”

Keith sighed. Uncertain of what to say. It was more than one thing that kept him wondering if this was the right choice. But he complied anyway. Shooting Lance an apologetic look.  
He wanted to believe him. But why?  
Keith had always relied more on instinct than anything else in his life. And right now his instincts told him to trust this stranger version of Lance.

But then again, Keith´s instincts were not always right.  
There were a few things about Lance´s story that seemed to make sense, actually.  
Like Katie and Pidge being the same person, for example.

Plaxum, his classmate being a mermaid was a close deduction, since the one they knew couldn´t walk and sat in a wheelchair.  
(A.N.: I feel like I´m focusing a bit too much on the mermaids, I´m sorry. Well, gonna roll with it now.)

And Kolivan, one leader of the rebel army was indeed part of a rebellion that fought a terrorist group, so it made sense to make use of that.  
But Lance couldn´t possibly know that Kolivan and Keith had a certain connection.

Kolivan was a little like Keith´s uncle. Training him to be a fighter since he was little. And they were still connected. But that was a secret he had kept very close, ever since he was a child.

And how could Lance just look at Keith and say his mother was Krolia?

Not even Keith knew who is mother was. Was this really a lie? Or could it be possible?  
Also, Keith had never told anyone but Shiro how his father had died. How did Lance know all that?

“You don´t seriously think what Lance is saying is true, are you? Of all people you should know that Lance is a notorious liar.”, Pidge finally asked him as Keith kept silent during their walk.

“I´m – not sure. I can tell when he´s lying. He´s being honest. I can sense it. I don´t think I can believe anything he´s saying, but I know that he believes it. I- I do have this stone he kept talking about. Maybe you want to look at it at least. If it´s just a stone, then we´ll send him to a hospital. Maybe he hit his head.”

Keith was testing waters here. Pidge looked at him curiously. “Just honestly, what did he say that made you even consider this?”, they asked, but sighed in defeat.  
“Alright. Give me the stone after school, and I´ll check on it.”

“Thank you. Oh, and one more thing. Can you check if Krolia has a son?”

“You want me to hack into secret government information to find out if this crazy head is right about her being your mom? Sure, Keith, easy peasy.”

“No, I wanted you to ask Matt. He is a part of them, isn´t he?”

Pidge pressed her mouth into a thin line before answering. “I will not use my brother for your crazy theory and Lance´s antics. Instead, how about you do me a favor for once.”, she paused, eyes narrowing again.  
“Keep an eye on him. I don´t trust him with my secrets. The rumor is probably spreading already.”

Keith nodded, a flimsy feeling ripping at his insides again.  
“Alright, I´ll do that.”

\------------------------

Lance PoV :

He sat down on a bench, already devastated. He knew nobody would believe him and yet he had told them the whole story.  
Except for the parts he didn´t understand or know of course. Technical stuff for example was just not his fortitude.

Hunk had already left when the last bell rang.  
Lance tried to get over the betrayal, but it didn´t work. Hunk, next to Keith, was his closest friend in their reality. And yet, he had just left him behind. Despite his obvious handicap. Meaning, his foot.

So Lance sighed, not sure how to get home now. His parents and siblings were most likely still at work. So he wouldn´t be able to call them until evening. And other than Hunk, he had no contacts.

“Hey.”  
Lance looked up in confusion. A familiar face was looking down on him, hands in his pockets and hair falling in his face.

“Hey, Keith. What are you still doing here?”, Lance asked gently. Despite their initial clash at the moment Lance first met him, Keith had already shown sides to him, that reminded him a lot of the Keith in his world.

“I – ehm. My motorcycle broke down. I´ve tried to fix it, but it seems – broken. I wanted to ask Mrs. Reyner, if she could help or so, since Shiro and Adam aren´t home, but – she´s gone already and-”

“You´re rambling.”, Lance smiled. Keith exhaled once as if he just remembered how to breath.  
“Yeah, I´m kinda stuck here.”

“So you too, huh?”, Lance laughed. Keith nodded, not exactly happy by the turn of events. “You don´t happen to know how to fix it, do you? I mean, with your alternate reality knowlegde.”, Keith´d tone was almost mocking in a way.

“Actually, I might.”, Lance wondered. “I mean, I´ve never been any good as an engineer, but at the Garrison- well, the Garrison I went to - they had high applications. So, theoretically I should be able to at least work as a mechanic here.  
You know what, I´ll take a look on it and try.”

Keith nodded in confusion. This was certainly not a reaction he had expected. Lance – certainly was something if he could actually make something like this up.  
Keith walked ahead after that, showing Lance his motorcycle. Lance was being far slower than Keith would like, with crutch and all, but he didn´t complain. Neither of them even mentioned it.

When they finally arrived, Lance looked at the motorcycle with a tilted head at the sight. “Damn, I forgot the 21th century has a mostly fuel based transportation system. Well, let´s do this.”  
Keith rolled his eyes. “If you cannot do it, just say so.”

Lance shook his head, as he inspected the motorcycle from all sides. “Can you try and start it?”  
Keith exhaled another breath and complied.

As he kickstarted his motorcycle a growling sound appeared almost instantly, but soon after it howled down as the engine cut out again.

“One more time, please.”, Lance insisted, listening closely to the sound.

Keith furrowed his eyebrows into a thin line and repeated this action. Same outcome.  
“Did you temper with it before?”, Lance asked.

“Well, yes, at home a bit. Why are you asking? I did check everything before, there should be nothing wrong with it, it worked fine just this morning, I-”

“No need to explain yourself. It´s no big deal. I just think I know what has happened.”

Then, Lance kneeled on the ground. “You have a screwdriver?” (A.N.: Don´t judge me, I love screwdrivers. Especially the stabbing kind. Lel... Job´s rubbing up on me XD)

“Ah, yes, of course.”  
Keith handed over his tools, which he always took with him, in case something like this happened. Soon enough, Lance´s eyes were knitted in concentration as he started tempering with the motorcycle.

Keith stared at him, fidgeting in his position. First of all, he barely allowed Shiro to touch his bike. Pidge, he may allow if they didn´t use the parts for their projects, Hunk? Yeah, well, Hunk would definitely be allowed to.  
But Lance? Of all people? An uncomfortable feeling settled inside Keith as Lance kept working his motorcycle apart piece by piece.

Keith started tapping at his sides, not sure whether or not to stop him. Was Lance pranking him again? He felt like a fool for trying to trust him.

Then, suddenly, Lance made a humming sound of approval as obviously he had found what he was searching for.  
Suddenly, everything happened very fast. A few alterations here and there and Lance rebuild everything that made the bike a motorcycle and finally, he stomped back. Unsure, but satisfied with his work.

“Can you start it again?”

Keith complied, wary of Lance´s stare. The bike howled, suddenly. The sound different than what Keith was used to, but it didn´t cut of this time.

Keith turned to look at Lance, mouth hanging wide open. “You – you didn´t even get a circuit to work in physics before. How did you -”

“The Garrison I attended was a military facility, I told you already. I was barely above average. It´s actually nothing. This is the least we should be able to do to be pilots. The bigger obstacles for us is to get a space ship running. That´s were I usually failed.”, he shrugged.  
I really, really wanted to be a fighter pilot like you.”, he added after thinking for a second.

“Really now. But you were.”, Keith deadpanned. Lance looked at him oddly. Keith bit his lip. That sounded like he believed him.

“I wasn´t until you dropped out. I didn´t say it earlier, but – ehm. I did – antagonize you a lot. In my defense, Iversion always compared me to you and told me how stupid I was in comparison. Not to mention a sentient, almost god like and almighty alien named Bob has declared me the “dumb one”.

I mean, compared to you guys, that´s not even an insult. You helped me realize that.

I wasn´t fair to you for a long time. But, to be honest, after a while, when Allura and Lotor got close, Pidge and Hunk too and Coran kept planning stuff with Shiro, I realized you were the only one who never once looked down on me.

I always thought you did, and I ran ahead like some kind of lunatic. But when I stumbled and fell and everyone else went passed me, and became the awesome people they are today, you waited for me.

When you left for the Blade, I was devastated and I never felt so alone in my entire life.  
Always thought I had to fit in your shoes, I always had to live in your shadow. And just when I thought it would never change, you went ahead again.

Because you refused to step into the light to be our leader and I had to basically force you to it. And then you, you took me with you. Not as your shadow, but your right hand man.  
You listened to me when no one else did. And you assured me that I mattered more than I even knew myself.

I- You were the only one who I felt I was on the same page with. I only realized this after the war, but you stepped down from the red lion for my sake, you gave up your family for me.

I cannot ignore that. I cannot ignore that you´re also taking care of me now that Allura- I -  
I´m sorry, this has actually nothing to do with you. This is another you, after all. Sorry, who is the one rambling now, am I right?”

Keith had stopped breathing while Lance kept talking, smiling and chuckling to himself. His heart clenched between his rips. And he hoped, he really hoped this Lance was not lying. Because if he was, then Keith´s heart just made an awful mistake.

“Should I – ehm. Should I take you home?”, Keith finally asked, awkwardly holding his helmet out to Lance who gratefully took it.

“That would be nice.”  
“We´re even, then?”, Keith asked, feeling his face flush with traitorous blood.

“There is nothing to even out, my friend. Thank you.”

Keith climbed onto his motorcycle, waiting for Lance to follow. Lance put the helmet on and jumped backwards onto the motorcycle, using only his uninjured foot, to not pressure too much weight onto the injured one. Awkwardly, he put his right leg onto the other side and held onto Keith´s torso right after. So, this probably wasn´t his first ride with a bike. Then again, if the lion story was true, he was probably used to far worse situations than this.

Keith really hoped Lance wouldn´t hear his stupidly rapid heart beating. Who was he kidding anyway? This Lance was talking about an imaginative version of him. Someone who seemed so awesome that Keith couldn´t believe that was supposed to be him.  
No matter if lie or truth, the Keith he was today, could never compare to the Keith Lance described today.

\---------------------

Loud roaring filled the air, as Keith finally drove onto his usual parking spot at home.  
Lance waited until he cut the engine again, before trying to get off the same way he had jumped onto the motorcycle.  
He seemed as though he was freezing. But Lance didn´t complain or ask for help. All while Keith awkwardly watched, wondering if he should help after all.

“Thank you Keith.”, Lance said, as he grabbed the crutch, that he had secured between his arms during the drive and thrown to the ground after they had stopped.

“No problem. You fixed it after all.”

“Of course.”, Lance grinned at him.

“Do you – erm”, Keith stopped, voice shaking a bit more than he had expected. “Do you want to check on Kosmo again?”, he asked. Was he just inviting Lance to his home? Was this an excuse?  
Maybe Keith was reading himself completely wrong? Maybe he was just curious and excited about the story? Or did he really want Lance to stay?  
He could still feel the warmth of Lance´s arms at his torso as it was slowly cooling down now.

“Well, I did promise him to check on him, didn´t I?”

Keith considered for a second whether or not to regret his decision. Then again, he was supposed to keep an eye on Lance. What did he have to loose?

\----------------------------

They sat down at the table in Keith´s kitchen. As Shiro and Adam were both still at work, Lance and Keith used their time to start homework already.

Actually it was Lance who had insisted upon that. He said, “the sooner it´s done, the more time we have to not worry about it.” And Keith, who happened to agree on that philosophy, followed his example.

Kosmo, like the day before, had greeted Lance excitedly.  
However, he calmed down after a while, leaving them do their work in piece.

“Say, Keith. I´ve told you guys a lot of my reality. But here, to be honest, I have absolutely no idea what this world is about.”

Keith looked up immediately from his physics homework that had him occupied for at least twenty minutes now.  
Keith had never been good at physics and though he tried to understand the phrasings used in their textbooks, he had problems concentrating. Especially since he was not used to company during homework.

“Eh, yes. Of course, what do you want to know?”, Keith asked irritated. For one, of course Lance´s question made sense to not make sense, but what exactly was he referring to?

“Well, for starters, everything I guess. I mean, I looked up things like, where am I, where is our school, what kind of system is society run by, etc on my phone. Those phones are not practical by the way.

I know I am friends with Hunk here. And you and I don´t get along. But why was everyone surprised when I called Katie Pidge?  
Are there two Pidge´s in this world? Then, how come you´ve heard of Krolia, but don´t know she´s your mom?”

Keith choked at the last part on his water as he listened to the questions.  
“What the fuck, Lance. Stop that already, my mother died when I was a child!”

“Do you remember her?”

“No of course not, I was far too young, I-”, Keith blinked. Because, Lance may be calling out nonsense all the time. But he had to admit, it was not impossible. Then again, it had to be impossible.

“Alright. Just so you know. So far, I haven´t seen a single family here that consisted of different people then in my reality. I think it´s possible that you´re right. But I doubt that. Anyway, what about Krolia do you know`?”

Lance leaned his chin into both his hands now, as his elbows rested on the table for support.

“Well, she´s the leader of a task force against terrorism. A few years ago she had saved a whole town singlehandedly from an attack as non of her companions cared to investigate. That´s why she´s so popular.

“I see.”, Lance nodded thoughtfully.  
“Next question, what´s the goal in our school system? I get, it´s the Garrison. But none of our lessons imply what we´re getting trained in.  
The Garrison I went to was for pilots and engineers and military in general. We were trained to work in space, so what´s the purpose here?”

Keith opened his mouth, but a laugh came out before his actual answer. “Well, it´s a regular school. You basically learn for learning purpose, so you can get to another school that specializes into teaching you what you need for the job you want to work at later in life.”

“Still? We choose our career path at the age of 14. I mean, that´s harsh. But children at least have dreams.”, Lance gaped at him incredulously.

“Yes? Also, you´d have to study to become an astronaut.”

“Astronaut”, Lance gasped and a grin grew on his face. “You mean, like Neil Armstrong, in those giant white outfits that you can barely move in? You guys are only reaching the moon still?”

Keith stared at him. “And how far did your pilots go?”

“Kerberos, the fourth moon of pluto. Well, until we discovered the blue lion of course.”

Now it was Keith who laughed in disbelief. “Pluto is not even a planet anymore.”

Lance actually winked at that. “It got it´s planet status back after the third world war, mostly to give the world something to joke about again. 23rd century, if I recall correctly.”  
Lance took a sip of his water, while Keith continued to scoff at the ridiculousness of Lance´s statement.

“Yes, of course. A third world war? Seriously? That´s like basic cliché story for future based novels and movies.”

“Really? I wouldn´t know, most novels were destroyed during the war. Some were saved, but those are mostly classics like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star wars and books about architecture and plants.”

Keith shook his head. “Who started the war?”

“Nobody did.”

“?”

“Well, it´s kind of hard to explain. Many countries had already had conflicts before the war that could not be solved. Multiple countries just started without a war declaration.  
And with the weapons used, in the end no country was left unscarred. There was no winner. So nobody wrote the story.  
All we know is that the world was build up again from the survivors. Mostly children and old people who were hidden in bunkers. For a while, they had to survive by learning how to hunt from scratch.

The few adults who survived were so traumatized that it was hard for them to move on. But after that, racism, sexism and all that junk had disappeared. Everyone was a victim and everyone was at fault. Nobody could take the blame, because the ones to blame had killed each other.”

Lance told him as though it was a story he knew by heart. As though he was told this story as a child before he went to bed. To remind him of kindness and to be thankful for what he had.

Keith nodded slowly, deciding to better not ask about this any further.

“Alright, what else do you want to know?”, he asked instead.

“How come, everyone seems to hate me?”

Keith´s eyes widened at the innocent question. Lance didn´t look angry, mad or sad at this, just puzzled. Keith wondered what it must be like to wake up in another reality, where suddenly everyone you loved had turned against you.  
It was a hypothetical question. Because Lance was lying. Did this mean, this is what he thinks people think of him, consciously? Then again, he´s not entirely wrong.

“Well for one, you´re always loud and noisy. You lie about literally everything, just to stir attention. You go against the teachers at every chance you get, without backing up your complains.  
You don´t do homework or even try to study anything. You cry because of scratches and your humor is basically talking people down.

You attack them, but if they call you out on it or do the same to you, you get angry and aggressive.  
Also, you´re invading people´s personal spaces without a second thought and ignore it if they shove you away.  
Hunk is basically the only one who can put up with you.”

Keith shut his mouth at the interested face Lance made. He basically sucked up the knowledge like a sponge. He didn´t complain about the bluntness of the statement, he did not get angry.  
He folded his hands on the table, staring at them in confusion.

“That – does sound like me.”, he whispered, more to himself than Keith, but Keith heard anyway.  
And that- did not sound right.

“Is – is that why you´re pranking us?”, Keith asked, almost carefully. “To understand your mistakes?”

“What? I´m not pranking you.”, Lance answered absently. “No, I used to be like that, to be honest. Not as extreme as you phrased it but – similar.  
And here I thought I was doing your Lance a favor. If in reality he just has to grow up.”

Keith opened his mouth to say something again, but failed at the sight of Lance leaning back in his chair.

“When he´s back, tell him that everyone hates him. That he is the dumb one. Make him feel it.”, Lance slowly said, a cold expression suddenly frozen in his icy blue eyes.  
Finally, he looked back at Keith.  
“I think, if you make him feel what he´s doing wrong, he´ll learn from it. And make it clear. Don´t pretend you don´t care. Make him see that you guys hate him.”

Keith kept staring. “Are you serious?”  
“I had to learn it the hard way. This would make it easier on him. Do him the favor, for me.”

Keith slowly nodded, puzzled by the request. “If that´s the easy way, what´s the hard one?”

“Believing that people like you but learn to believe they don´t really care. That they don´t see you at all and leave you alone. You´re isolated and lonely, while talking and conversing with people. You´re constantly searching for people to like you. And when that doesn´t work out, you seek being alone so that it feels like it´s your choice and less painful. Imagine being the third wheel, no matter where you go.

See what others are capable of, be jealous of that before you even know what defines you.

Not a chance to grow for yourself, because you´re always afraid to be in someone else´s shadow.  
Or to steal the light from them.

Always afraid to say a word because you´re annoying them. Nobody tells you whether you actually do annoy them or not, so you don´t know if you´ve improved.

You don´t know anything. And yet you feel like you can read the others. But all you see is ignorance. It´s a hollow feeling. And growing from that feels like rising from the dead.  
Tell him, so that he knows. Please. Tell him he´s doing something wrong so he can work on it.”

Lance´s eyes went from spaced out to serious begging.

And it was this moment that Keith decided, he had to believe Lance. This sadness, this hurt, no matter if lie or not, could not be faked.  
This was a darkness inside Lance that had hurt him for years, probably. And most likely it was resurfacing now.  
A hidden scar that nobody ever knew was once a wound. And nobody knew that it opened up any time someone mentioned it.

This feeling could not be acted unless you experienced it. So Keith decided to give Lance a chance. This was a hard decision to make.  
But one Keith believed would be worth it. “I promise.”, he whispered.

“Thank you, Keith.”

\--------------

The dream

Lance dreamed that night, of a person made of light. A woman´s voice was stuck inside his head, smiling and laughing as she approached him.  
She must be a goddess. Then, he recognized the voice.

“Allura?”

“I saw you, Lance.”

Lance stared at her in silence. The unspoken question lingering above them like wet clothes to dry in the sun.

“You´re miserable, Lance.”

Lance flushed at that. “What do you expect? With you gone.”, his voice silenced out on himself. He looked to the side, slightly ashamed.

“You used to be so full of life, Lance. You had dreams and goals and you threw them away to isolate yourself. I did not die to see you suffer like this.”

“No, you died to save the world.”, Lance murmured.  
“I died to give you a world to live in. All of you. I gave you the marks to remind you of my love. I realize now that I only hurt you.”

Lance didn´t answer for a second.

“You need to let go of me, Lance.”

“I did. See, I pushed the other you away, or did you not see that?”

“I did. But that is not the same, Lance. You must realize that was not me. The Allura of this world has parents, has a family, a supporting boyfriend. I brought you to this world to see that. To see who is truly important in your life. To see how far you´ve come and that you´re worth to live.”

Lance almost chuckled. “So, do I understand correctly? YOU send me here? For what? To finally move on from you?”

“Yes, Lance. You can not wait for me, for I cannot return to you. I will always love you and you will always love me, I know that. But I´d rather see you happy. And I want you to find love again. You need to move on.”

Lance looked at her, sadness washing over him once more. Shame.  
“Allura. I don´t think I can.”

Again, Allura smiled. “I think you already have.  
\---------------------

AUPidge POV:

When Keith gave the stone to Pidge, they were sitting with their laptop on a bench underneath a giant tree. They weren´t exactly eager to inspect the stone.

In fact, the moment they noticed him, they groaned inwardly, reaching for the stone without bothering to look at him. But Keith had insisted to the point, where Pidge just gave up.

However, as soon as the stone touched their hand, Katie stared at it in curiosity.

“Keith?”

“Yes, I know. It is stupid to let you inspect a stone. I just want to be sure.”

“Sure of what, Keith?”

Keith sighed, nervously playing with the hem of his shirt.  
“I – I´m not sure how to say this.”, he finally replied after a short pause. Warning signs clouded his mind, but he refused to listen to them.

“You mean, that you believe him.”, Pidge looked at him with a knowing glare, incredulity evident in their eyes.

“No. Not yet. Not unless -” Keith sighed and sat down next to them.  
“It´s just – I´m considering, okay? There are just so many questions that don´t seem to make sense. And when I look at him – it´s hard to explain. But I think, if anything, he believes it himself.  
He´s being honest.”

“He´s a liar, Keith.”

“I know. But this – this is not the Lance we know.”, Keith whispered, but Pidge only sighed.

“That´s what he said, Keith. That´s what he always says. It´s not the first time he pulled a prank on us and at least one of us believed him. He wants to show off, make fun of us.”

“Not this time.”, Keith shook his head and looked at them once more. “Even if this was a scheme, I believe he´s trying.”

“Trying what exactly? How to lure us out? Make fun of us?”

“I think he wants to change.”

Pidge started to laugh. “To change! Seriously, Keith. Why would Lance of all people want to change himself?”

“Because we hate him.”

Pidge stopped laughing, an incredulous look growing on their face. “What the hell, Keith. Hate is a strong word, he wouldn´t-”

“Just hear me out, okay? I´ve been thinking. Lance has gone through this life with multiple siblings, trying to get the attention of his parents, while simultaneously trying to reach expectations.”

“What expectations? Nobody ever expects anything from Lance.”

Keith sighed once more, before continuing. “Precisely. He wants to be as smart as his sister, as funny as his brother, as cool as his uncle, etc. etc.  
Each time he finds something he likes, someone else has it already. And if he tries anyway, he can never reach their skill level. Or nobody cares if he does. Or compares him to someone else. I met his sister. It´s not hard to imagine an inferior complex in this family.

I think, after some time Lance has given up. Just creating a world of stupid nonsense so people will believe he´s at least comfortable with himself. Or confident.  
But recently, even before this mess started, something shifted. With the mermaid story, when he pretended to have seen them and that they changed his life and stuff like that. That he owned their trials, grew as a fighter and became their hero?

But he got more and more quiet. I know he forced himself to be natural and calm, even though he wasn´t. He didn´t seek out any of his usual friends and they neglected him just like that. Allura rejected him, and he´s absolutely and completely alone, while everyone laughs at him.  
If this is another scheme, I think he´s trying to become a better person through it, without showing us that he´s actually trying.”

Pidge raised their eyebrow in irritation.  
“Well that would be quite obvious, wouldn´t it?”

“I think the way you don´t believe it, proves that it´s actually really subtle. Making fun of us, putting a joke out there in the world like usual. While he´s actually sincere and puts attention to his change, so people won´t realize how hurt he is. And how important this is to him.  
But I´ve talked to him. I cannot describe it. He sounds like he´s dying inside, Pidge.

Just – let´s give him one more chance, okay?”

Pidge bit their lip in response, chewing on it a bit, before sagging their head in consideration.  
“Alright, just. If this is his actual plan, why do you want me to check the stone?”

“Because I think it doesn´t make sense that he´d change his story from one day to the next. And this Lance is far more confident and secure about his personality than mermaid-Lance.  
I believe there is a chance that he is telling the truth. I can feel it.”

Pidge turned to him again, rolling the ball in their hands one more time. “Alright. I´ll try.  
But if MY theory is correct, you´ll by me snacks.”

“Sure, what kind?”

“All of them.”

“Deal.”

….

Pidge was at home alone in their lab, when they inspected the stone under the microscope.  
The lab was actually the basement of their household. Formerly the room of their brother. But since Matt left, as the Blade recruited him, his room was suddenly empty.

And for some reason, Pidge found themselves drawn to the old books and shared memories in this room. Also, Matt left a lot of tech here from his days as a free lancing hacker.

It had not taken Pidge long to figure out that maybe, Keith was not so wrong about his theory.  
Because the stone, was in fact not a stone.

The bluish black surface was actually of some kind of metallic origin. But it was no metal you would find on earth.  
In fact, the stone resembled a test object their brother had been working on for the Blade.  
But it had split from some kind of comet that hit the earth a few centuries ago.

How did Keith find this? Or Lance? Whose was it?

The scans, Pidge run on them later, proved that there was some kind of electromagnetic energy radiating from it´s core.

It was not dangerous, but it made Pidge wonder, if Lance´s claims could held some truth to them.

They sighed, irritation and confusion mixing into frustration.  
Perhaps they should confide in Matt about this.

It was only an hour later, when Pidge had decided to finally go to bed, as their phone rang.

Annoyed at this late hour, they checked the number.

In an instant, Pidge sat up from her bed again that they had just fallen into. Because this did not make any sense.  
Hesitating, they accepted the call.

“Hello?”, they asked, because there was no way the person on the other side could be the person their phone said it was.  
Pidge had two phones, one which they kept in their drawer. The number that called them was identical to the one they used for their alias.

“Hello yourself. Thank god you´re still using that old number. I was afraid I wouldn´t reach you. All my precious work would have gone to waste.”

Pidge gasped at that voice. No, this was certainly not possible. “Who the hell are you?”

“Me? My name is Katie. Katie Holt. But my friends call me Pidge. I´m basically you from another reality.”

Silence stretched between them, causing Pidge to stare with wide open eyes at their own reflection. The old dusty mirror on the backside of their door mocking them in their dilemma.

“What the hell. Who are you really? What do you want. I´m not giving you my money.”

The person on the other side chuckled to themselves. Pidge gritted their teeth, trying to make sense of this. Had Lance planned this? Was he using Keith for his plans?

“Actually, I only wanted to talk to Lance. Is he there with you?”, the person asked persistent.

Pidge frowned. “Listen, I don´t know what Lance payed you for going on with that joke, but if you don´t stop, I will hack your phone, find all your embarrassing secrets and sell them online. Got it!”

The person on the other side sighed in annoyance. Not unlike Pidge themselves.

“Go ahead, hack yourself. That will show me.

If Lance is not here, just, please, tell him, we´re going to meet him soon. We´ve found a location, similar to one of our bases in your reality. I will message you when we´re there again. We really need to return your Lance and Kosmo and get ours back. We´ll figure out how to form Voltron again. We may have a way, now that Blue has accepted your Lance as her paladin.”

Pidge groaned once more. “What the hell. Now you´re dressing up as us as well? Lance is broke as fuck, how can he afford all this.”

“Pidge, me, I dunno how I shall call you. But turn down your sense of paranoid logic for one god damn second. You´ll be certain when we´ll meet up. Because we will fly five motherfucking space ships down your planet that look like robot lions! If your Lance can pull that up, then it´s fine to mistrust us.

If you truly think we´ll abandon our Lance to another reality, then screw you! I´ve talked to your Lance. All of you. If you do to our Lance what you did to him, we´ll rip you apart.  
Let that be a warning.  
See you soon.”

With that, the line died. Pidge stared ahead, all too familiar with the threatening methods of themselves. But never, ever had they dreamed to be the receiver of one of these.  
Pidge had never thought of their threads as frightening. Until now, that is.  
It was the blatant tone that shook people to their core, they realized. And for this brief second, Pidge almost believed it.

Almost.

\---------------

AUShiro POV:

Shiro was always worried about Keith. There was something in living together, sharing most of your childhood memories together that just made you feel that way.

And for years, Shiro had watched Keith Kogane fight with the boy across the street. To the point where even Keith´s dog had sided with him.

Lance McClain was known for his aggressive little outbursts, his harsh tone, the threads he made towards people for no reason.  
He talked to people a lot, growing more confident after a while, until he would realize that those people would just make fun of his jokes.  
Of him.

And Shiro had seen Lance crumble whenever that happened.  
However, when he was fighting with Keith – thinks were different. Lance actually seemed to have the morally higher ground at most times.  
He wasn´t intimidated by him, just frustrated. And so was Keith. Who, even though he would always deny this, had taken Lance serious.

Maybe it was the fact that their teachers always compared them to each other, but Lance always seemed to stand up to Keith, no matter the cost.  
And Keith always let him.

But, at some point, when Keith had finally given in to Shiro´s pleads to leave the boy in peace, something had changed.

Lance had stopped going to school. He stopped going outside. He closed himself of from the world. Wallowing in silence. Creating stories that gained attention, but didn´t make sense.

He wore oversized clothes now, so when he´d go outside, he could hide inside his hoodie. However ironic that sounds.  
That was when Shiro had realized that the banter between Lance and Keith had been the only thing that made Lance come out his shell at all.

Keith just seemed to know how to rile him up. Give him a reason to go outside.

And Keith?  
Keith was Shiro´s priority. Keith was calmer now, more relaxed around strangers. He was fine with himself the way he was and not as closed up as before.  
And Shiro had taken this as a reason to believe that he was right to tear their odd relationship apart.

But recently, when Lance had started coming over and talking to Keith, bantering with him in a completely new, but Lance like style, he realized that maybe it wasn´t the right decision.

Because after their parting, Keith had lost his sense of direction. Keith had more friends now, was calmer as before, but he was also more quiet. Less himself even, though he appeared fine with it.  
Every move he made, he seemed eager to search for the Lance in the room.  
Ignoring Lance had not been easy on him and it showed.

Now that Lance was acting in such a strange way, things seemed even worse, somehow.  
It looked like Lance had moved on without Keith. Becoming someone new. Someone reliable. Someone who knew his place in the world and would do everything to defend it.  
He didn´t look down on Keith, but it seemed like Keith was trying his best to follow his example.

There was something unspoken about their former relationship that nobody had wanted to address. It had been too secretive, too important to mention. As it had yet to develop and be born into something that would change their entire dynamic.

This Lance looked like he had figured it out. Had given it the chance to grow. But how could Lance make this chance without Keith?

And this caused the small spark of wonder in Shiro. That made him want to know what was going on between the two of them.  
Maybe Lance had the answers. Keith for sure wouldn´t.

But Shiro had broken into their private life´s before and had to admit he messed it up. So he decided he´d let them figure this out by themselves. Just watching and hoping everything would be alright.

While he tried to figure out what had happened to Kosmo. And why he was chewing on his choker.

\-------------------  
Lance´s POV:

Two weeks went by faster than Lance thought. And still he had heard no news from his friends from his reality.  
His acquaintances in this reality seemed to hate him to the core, no matter what he said or did. And it made him anxious. Only Keith seemed to have sided with him, ironically enough.

Keith had even volunteered to get him to school every day on his motorcycle.  
Lance payed for the fuel, despite Keith´s insistence that it wasn´t necessary.

Something in their dynamic had shifted to something friendly and casual, Keith noticed after a while. And when Lance finally came by, a wide grin on his face and without crutches or bandages on his foot, Keith could´t help but grin as well.

The rumor that Lance and Keith were on good terms now, had made it´s round in the school by day two. To the point where many people started avoiding them.

Hunk avoided his best friend, despite the hurt that Lance clearly wore on display.  
Keith didn´t really know how to react to Lance yet, so he kept his mouth shut most of the time. He needed time to open up to him. There were still things he didn´t want on Lance´s blacklist.  
But Lance didn´t force him to share information.  
In fact, whenever Keith seemed uncomfortable about something, Lance always said something like “it´s fine if you don´t want to talk about it. I´ll still comfort you though, if you let me.”

So Keith and Lance still stood at somewhat a distance, but it was a comfortable state of being. And Keith enjoyed it. Especially since Lance seemed to be so happy at literally anything he saw here and there.  
Though something seemed to trouble him in the back of his mind. Keith could see it, whenever Lance looked at Allura.

Soon, they went on a one- day school trip to meet up with the task force called Marmora. And Keith, despite all the whispering, was happy that Lance had asked him to spend the time together.

They sat next to each other in the bus, listening to old songs on Keith´s phone, while Lance asked about every single interpret he didn´t seem to recognize.

Which was odd, because Lance didn´t even know the bands he used to obsess over. Loudly.  
Keith realized that Lance, if he was faking, was incredibly persistent on his story.

The ride took about two hours only, since the military facility was within the state and had strong tides to the Garrison, since most soldiers used to be students there.

The building they approached was a giant block like building. Two towers gave you the impression of a giant castle that were connected by a bridge. The dark purple walls reflected the sunlight in a weirldly natural way.  
Keith would have expected it to be a bit more camouflaged than this.

“Hello students.”, a strong, female voice invited them dryly once inside the building. She looked slightly bored, if still serious and fierce.  
Lance nudged Keith´s shoulder. “That´s her. That´s your mom.”, he whispered, earning a death glare by Mr. Iversion and Professor Slav, their guiding teachers for today.

Keith flushed as even more whispers traveled the small crowd.  
Krolia did not seem pleased.

“Quiet.”, she said and barely a moment later, the students followed suit. Keith noticed in confusion, how Lance immediately stood up straighter, shoulders back, as he folded his hands in front of him in a weird reflex.  
Krolia side eyed him in confusion, but decided to ignore him.

“My name is commander Krolia. Most of you should have heard of me. I will only be addressed by that name. Understand!  
Now please introduce yourself as well. I cannot promise to remember all your names, but it is basic protocol. So we know nobody just sneaked his way inside the building.  
Mr. Iversion, a list of your students please.”

Her voice was so demanding, even Iversion complied like a dog.

In a row, every student stepped forward, introducing themselves with an awkward motion that Krolia seemed to dislike, but ignored anyway.

As fate had it, it was Lance´s turn right before Keith´s.  
He stepped one step forward in a striking motion, right hand on his heart as he bowed in a light curve, keeping eye contact with Krolia at all times.

Keith wondered why Lance thought this was a great idea. Krolia stared at him as though he was messing with her.  
“Lance McClain, at your service. It is an honor being acquainted with you, commander.”He didn´t smile, as his gaze was trained in a professional manner.

“You´re a funny one, aren´t you?”, Krolia raised an eyebrow in disapproval.

Lance stepped back again, hand still on his heart, his eyes unwavering. “Not when I´m on duty.”, he let the line slip, his own eyes widening as he realized what he said.  
Again, she sighed and choose to ignore him once again. Since Lance didn´t seem to seriously mock her, but tried to be polite.

“Alright, what about you?”, Krolia looked at Keith, still bored.  
“I – I´m Keith Kogane.”, Keith introduced himself lamely. Her eyes shot up at his name, her eyes piercing his as she checked the name list again.  
She didn´t say anything, but Keith felt her eyes lingering at him for a moment too long to be a coincidence.

Lance looked at him again, not even joking anymore. “She recognized you.”, his eyes seemed to say and Keith? Keith wondered if it could be true.  
That piercing look spoke volumes.

“Then, follow me, please.”

After everyone was checked, they went through a control room that reminded you of the security check of an air port.

Lance seemed rather confused at the technique, so that Keith had to explain it to him.  
Lance should know how it worked. He used to complain about it every time his family bought tickets to Cuba. He complained openly in school, of course.

Lance only had his wallet and phone on him and easily passed through the control without a problem.  
Pidge on the other hand, who had pointedly ignored them the entire time, was called back like three times to check their pockets, until they finally let them in.

Keith, embarrassed as he was, handed over his knife. A present his dad had made him to his birthday, two weeks before he died in that fateful fire.  
Krolia eyed the blade suspiciously from where she was. Keith had quite some explaining to do, but for some reason she stepped in and spoke up for him.

Lance waited for him on the other side. There was no grin on his face, only a subtle smile. But he looked like he was used to this. Which was odd, considering he had just told Keith he´d never been to an airport before. But maybe, he was just used to controls in general.

After that ordeal, Krolia showed them through room after room, control panel after control panel. Keith was not particularly interested on anything. Lance however inspected everything with great attention from a save distance.

Krolia watched him curiously. As though she was suspecting something fishy.  
Finally, she approached him.

“Lance McClain was it?”, she asked.  
Immediately Lance stood up straight again. “Yes, mam.”, he bowed again.  
“Why are you so nervous?”, she asked, slightly confused.

“I don´t understand the question.”, Lance answered after contemplating her question for a short while.  
“You´re acting strange. Serious, as though you are on a mission. What is your goal here?”

“To inspect this facility as it is part of our school education, mam.”

“You sound like a video game character, if not a very useless spy.”

Finally, Lance laughed. “Soldier, if anything mam. I have a great story about how and why I´m here, but I believe you will throw me out if I told you something so surreal. I assure you, I am not a spy. You can ask your son, if you don´t believe me.”

Keith hissed in a breath, immediately running over and shutting Lance up as he put his hand on Lance´s mouth. How dare he treat his theory as a common fact?

Krolia´s eyes widened. “What did you say?”  
Lance´s eyes widened as well, in shock as he realized his mistake. “I´m – oh my god, I am so sorry.”, he murmured with a side glance at the embarrassed Keith as he gently shoved the hand of his own face.

Krolia glance from one to the other, closing her eyes in a growl.  
“Did your father tell you?”, she asked.

Keith, still occupied with Lance, froze on the spot. He turned towards her, a shocked expression in his eyes. Krolia eyed him curiously.

“You´re not telling me your friend here knew but you didn´t?”, she asked in a whisper, clearly trying to keep curious ears from listening.

“It´s - “, Keith failed to respond, but they didn´t have to as a tall man, with braided hair over his broad shoulders handed out guns.”

“What the hell is he doing?”, Lance asked, suddenly more interested in the ongoing scenario. Not even fazed by Krolia´s and Keith´s interaction. It kind of pissed Keith off.

Lance let them be, as he approached the man he recognized as Kolivan and listened in on whatever he was telling them.

\-------------------------

“In our next room, two of our blades, named Thace and Ulaz, will demonstrate how terrorists operate. You can go in alone or in groups. You will have to fight them off to take them down. Those are paintball guns. You will get your armor before stepping in. Be warned, up until now, none of our visitors have made it out uncolored. Each of you get´s a map of the place, you´ll get instructions from our tourist guide, Matt Holt.”

Lance looked up at that. Then he turned to Keith who was still busy with his mother. Then he grinned. This did sound like fun. He hadn´t fought the gladiator in years. And since his leg was about alright again, he should be able to do this. Also, working with Matt? This was new.

Time passed slowly as team for team went in. None of them returning happily as all colors of the rainbow sprinkled their vests in fatal spots.  
Everyone else watched them from here. It didn´t really matter that everyone knew the tactics of the “terrorists” by now, as a screen unhelpfully showed them how everyone failed.

Lance watched with an analyzing gaze, pointing out the mistakes the teams made before they faced the consequences.  
On a Rate of Gladiator training level, Lance assumed this was a level 4 course. A level each paladin solved after about two month´s of training. Even Hunk who had the most trouble with it.

Lance waited patiently, until finally, Kolivan handed him a vest and a gun. Lance put up the gun, checking it´s weight and angle and deducted it was probably off by a few degrees.

Kolivan held him back for a second. “You´re sure you should go in alone? You believe you can handle it?”  
Lance smiled back at him. “No. I would never be certain. That would be a fatal mistake in a real life situation. And it would take all the fun away.”

Again, whispers followed him inside. “show off.”, “loser”, “dumb idiot”.

But as soon as Lance entered the room, the noises disappeared. Lance was fully in control of himself again. He knew this world. He knew all the roads in and out this room. All hidden passages that his colleges had found and stood at too long to talk and risked being found out.

Lance held his weapon close to himself as he concentrated. Senses activated as he sneaked his way through the maze of statues and walls that lined up the way. He could hear everything, except for his own footsteps and breathing.

Lance could see more clearly too. Which was probably due to the controlled amount of adrenaline that automatically flooded his system. He needed to be precise. Nobody was allowed to find him. He had to become one with his surroundings. And he had to keep moving to take out the terrorists, before they could activate the bomb. And suddenly he forgot this was a game.

Matt reminding him of his mission and to ask him anything he may need to know.

Outside, Kolivan stared at the boy who sneaked into the room as though he had done this hundreds of times before.  
Watched him check every corner, weapon raised like a professional.

His classmates were whispering again, some of them laughing. “Look at him, I bet he got that from a video game.”

But Kolivan knew better than that. This boy was being cautious. The terrorists hadn´t even noticed him as of yet. And as it looked like, they wouldn´t very soon.

Suddenly, the boy climbed unto a wall that was hidden behind bushes, as though it was parcour. For a second he seemed to struggle, as though his body wasn´t quite shaped for it´s actions, but he made it anyway. And Kolivan trusted, the boy still made no sound.

Then again, if he was truly trying to act like a sniper to shoot his way out of the situation, there were a few problems.  
First of all, the guns were not as precise as an actual sniper weapon. But maybe he didn´t know that.

Then again, the terrorists were holding hostages, two other blades. If he shot one of the terrorists, the other would activate the bomb.

And, Lance only had three free shots.

The boy still aimed at the direction the terrorists stood in. Every action could stirr their attention. And then either one of them would follow him to take him out with another shot, or activate the bomb. It was just that simple.  
That´s why going in alone was a troubling choice.

Not to mention the trained senses of the blade members. It was a miracle they hadn´t noticed the boy yet.

Suddenly there was a shot. Actually it wasn´t just one. It were all three, aimed precisely and shortly after one another.  
Kolivan stepped closer to the screen now.

The boy had used all of his shots at once, but damn did he make good use of it.  
The first shot had hit the spot that held the connection to the bomb of the two remotes in the terrorist´s hands.  
Without the connection, the bomb would have to be activated manually. But the bomb was surrounded by hostages.  
And the other two shots had hit both their weapons at the handle. They would be broken to uselessness. But he didn´t kill the targets, Kolivan noticed .

He was so focused on that that it took Kolivan a moment to notice that the boy was moving now.

Fatal mistake, Kolivan thought as both of the blades had other weapons on them as well.  
One of them threw it at the boy in surprise. Though it was plastic, it was bound to hurt.

But Lance twirled in mid air, his face dodging the knife by an inch, until his other arm grabbed for his opponents arm, pushing him down with his own weight and catching the knife for himself in the process. The other blade was ready to fight the small boy now, but Lance dodged his knife and his attack, enarmoring him in the process with the back of his fist, before throwing him to the ground, knife at his throat, glaring warnings into his skull. He didn´t actually hurt either of them.

Ulaz choked anyway.  
Lance, however faced his first target again, whose eyes were wide in shock and realization.  
Lance knocked him down as he grabbed him by his arm and used Thace´s own weight to trip him off balance.

He fake stabbed Thace with the knife in his arm, leaving another red painted line at one of his targets. Yet again, he didn´t pretend to kill him.

Then, Lance turned toward the hostages, cutting the gaping blade members free from their chains. Then he moved towards the bomb, professionally opening the small timing box. Finally asking his supervisor Matt the question how to turn it off.  
The stuttering answer guided Lance through the final steps and soon after, the task was done.

Lance turned around, still blind to the people around him. Paranoia evident in his gaze. Not knowing that he just passed with flying colors. Or rather, without any colors at all.

The audience stared at the screen. Especially Katie Holt who had never seen anything like this before.

Kolivan spoke up through a microphone then. “Congratulations, McClain. You cleared the game.”

Lance on the screen stood up straight in confusion yet again. Only now it dawned on him that this was not actually real.

He looked at his knife again, cursing slightly at the side. The blade congratulated him, but it felt a bit forced, causing Lance to apologize.

“Where do you say you found him?”, Krolia whispered in Keith´s ear, who was still trying to comprehend the fact that he had a mother.  
And she was a task force officer.

Lance´s little stunt was nothing compared to this.

“I-”, Keith

Keith shook his head, stomping away from his mom. Because this? This was unbelievable.  
Lance knew. He didn´t guess, he knew. And his mom? She pretended like this was nothing.  
Keith spend his entire life believing she was dead, coping with his fathers death completely on his own.  
He thought it wasn´t her fault for dying. But clearly she had chosen to abandon him.

So he made a beeline straight to the door, where Lance stumbled out from, slightly sweaty from his three minute adventure. Ready to question his sanity in front of everyone.

Their classmates were suddenly crowding Lance, trying to ask him how he did it.  
Keith was mad at that too. How dare Lance try to gloat right in front of him? How dare he make Keith want to believe him?

Keith was so blinded by his sudden anger, that he didn´t recall a single reason as of why he even considered to believe him.  
Now he would tell him to his face that he could just go fuck himself and his pranks and everything.

Only that, for this one, single moment that Keith´s anger was clouding his vision, Lance did not at all seem comfortable by the approaches.  
In fact, as soon he stepped out the room, he was already searching for a familiar face.

And as he found it, he headed straight over to Keith. Passed all those people who were about to shower him in compliments and questions.

But Lance´s eyes said he didn´t care about them. What seemed to matter was – was he concerned?

“Keith – are you okay?”

Keith stopped in the middle of the room, anger suddenly loosing every sense of direction they had so randomly picked.

Keith blinked, opening his mouth in an attempt to answer, but he felt lost at the expression of the other boy.  
Not to mention the crowd was staring at both of them now.  
The anger dropped in his stomach, buzzing away in a sea of irritation. When finally, Pidge spoke up.

“Erm, guys?”, they asked, looking at their phone. As the only one not captivated by the little scene.

The crowd turned like paranoid meercats.

Keith didn´t respond, but Lance already had, on his way towards Pidge who stood rather close to Kolovan.

“´ there someone on the phone?”, he asked, as Pidge was trying to calm someone down.

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“I - “, Pidge sighed, somewhat irritated at the voice on the other side.  
“It´s Keith.”, they said, staring at Lance and then at Keith, waiting for an answer.

Lance raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “What do you mean, how can you – oh.”  
Oh!

The other Keith.

“Seriously, you want to tell me you didn´t know this would happen?” Pidge stared at him, wonder in their eyes, disbelief. The kind you had when you couldn´t figure out how the guy on TV did that one particular magic trick. While Keith, who was still trying to process what was happening, noticed something aloof with Lance´s expression.

When Keith had thought, Lance looked differently at him, concerned or happy or open and honest, it was nothing compared to-  
well.  
This.

Lance´s eyes were wide open, a grin spread on his face so bright it made you fear breaking into a smile was a literal thing.

“Can I talk to him? Please?”, Lance asked, almost pleaded, as the stares grew even more intense.

At the same time, someone seemed to approach Kolivan and Krolia, informing them of something important.

Pidge, however looked guilty at Lance. “He says, they are already here.”

Lance´s eyes widened. “What do you – how?”

“Does Voltron say anything to you?”, they asked, still confused by this word.

And then, Lance´s eyes sparkled as he jumped in the air, raising his fist, like he should have when he had cleared the game.

In that very moment, Krolia almost shouted her next words into the silent crowd.  
“What do you mean a giant robotic man is approaching earth?”

\--------------------------

It happened in a matter of minutes. The crowd of students, lost and unable to be tamed by their respective teachers, ran outside.  
First and foremost Lance.  
Keith and Pidge, staring at each other, side glancing Hunk who was in equal shock, followed at last.

The giant man-robot landed not too far from the Marmora building, who apparently had no time to plan a counter attack. Until it actually split up into five giant, different colored lions who stood side by side now. Bowing their heads and opening their giant mouths.

Pidge stared at them, mouth agape. “What the hell. It´s actually five giant robot lions.”, they huffed, disbelief clear in their voice.

Keith, however, closed up on Lance who was staring at the lions in excitement.

And this moment alone, was irritating enough to silence the whole crowd of witnesses. Unspoken questions and irritated stares hang over them.

In that moment, the green paladin and the yellow one left their respective lions. And as they put of their helmets, Keith recognized them as older versions of Pidge and Hunk. Especially Pidge who was taller now and had less crazy hair and missed their trade mark glasses caught him off guard.

Hunk looked barely different. Only taller and, if possible, even more buff and happy. A woman followed behind him, hands intertwined with his. She looked like an alien, Keith gasped and he could see the pointing fingers at her.

The black lion and a tall man, oddly familiar left it. Another man next to him. But they weren´t holding hands. Maybe, because he had his arms wrapped around Shiro´s waist.  
The man was not Adam. Keith shouldn´t be so surprised, considering Lance had told him about Adam´s death in his world.

Or maybe he should be more surprised by that than Shiro´s hair being absolutely white. As though he had aged beyond his years.

But before he could say anything, the red lion´s paladin left their lion.

And Lance?  
His eyes brightened with a light at the sight.  
Behind Keith followed a woman who was trying to tame a giant dog who looked like he was trying to escape at any given chance now.  
And she looked almost exactly like Krolia. Except for the fact she was a purple alien with cat ears.

Keith couldn´t help but stare at the scene that unfolded in front of them.

Lance basically jumped at the man – Keith- hugging him so tight, auKeith wondered if his alternate self could even breathe.  
But the older version of himself simply smiled at the young boy, hugging him back as though this was where he belonged.  
And for a shocking moment, auKeith wondered, if maybe he did.

Keith´s thoughts got interrupted, as the giant dog barked at him and Keith realized, this must be Kosmo. A second later he was already thrown to the ground, his dogs weight pushing him deep into the dirt, while another voice broke through the confused whispering of the crowd.

And this voice was unmistakenable.  
Au Keith pushed Kosmo from himself, recognizing an older, more broad, more tall Lance standing in front of the blue lion.  
AU Keith gasped, as he saw the scars on his face, his hands, his arms. He heard the slight rasp in this man´s voice, but he recognized the fire in his eyes. Even though it seemed dimmed and tired.

AuKeith took a deep breath and then, Lance must have noticed his alternate self.

It was this moment that split reality in half.  
A white light embodied the entire area of the Marmoran base, students screaming from the sudden blindness.  
And a woman, dark skinned, white haired, blue eyed stood in front of them.  
She must be a goddess, auKeith thought. Until he recognized the markings.

And as he turned to Lance, he saw them glowing as well. AuLance had falled to the ground immediately upon seeing her.  
“Allura!”, he gasped. Silence filled the white void.

She stood between them. Between Lance and Lance, between Keith and Keith, Pidge and Pidge, Hunk and Hunk, Shiro and Shiro. Kosmo and Kosmo. Who hadn´t been here before was now suddenly there, staring in confusion at their alternate selves.

“Lance.”, she said. And it was all she said before she disappeared again. It held an emotion, a feeling, a sense of love in it that neither of them had ever known.  
She had waved her hand at them and suddenly, the altean markings disappeared from Lance´s face. The younger Lance now turned around, gaping, wondering, stumbling away from the older Keith.

AUKeith knew in that moment, they must have returned to their bodies.  
And as he looked at older Lance, he saw the altean marks on his face again, but their glow fading within the light that the goddess had left.  
They dissipated from his features as though they had never been there. His eyes glowing just as bright in that very moment.  
A second later, the older Keith was there, somehow, catching him before he could faint.  
And then, they all began to fade as well.

Moments later, the lions, the paladins, everything was gone, as though the goddess had taken them from here.  
No sign of them, as suddenly birds could be heard again.  
And auKeith stared at the nothingness, his brother, who had suddenly appeared, the dog who was his dog again, whimpering and whining at him and he looked at auLance.  
Who looked broken, confused and utterly destroyed.  
No ounce of glory in his eyes.

And Keith made a decision as he went towards him, kneeled beside him and took his hand in his.  
Lance looked at him with confusion in his eyes. “I thought you hate me, he said.” And Keith knew he didn´t just mean Keith. He knew he meant all of them. And he knew the but came from whatever had happened on the other side.  
“I think you hate yourself more than any of us ever could.”, he admitted. “And I think it´s time you show us a version of yourself that isn´t made up.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since you guys asked, here is a very - very personal second chapter. This was a bit hard to write and I know how ridiculous some of this may sound. Doesn´t change anything though. For others, this could be a bit difficult to read. I may add a third chapter another time, where the characters will deal with the aftermath of the first two chapters. I really hope you´ve enjoyed it this far. Let me think what you thought about this chapter or if you have questions. I´d be happy to answer them. I hope I could do justice to what you´ve expected or hoped for. Maybe I broke your heart just enough to feel less pathetic about myself.  
If you want, I may include a fourth chapter one day, where I´ll explain how I approached the worlds and the characters and their differences in both worlds. (I really want to write that chapter XD)

Keith had some kind of sixth sense, when it came to Lance. Or at least, he sometimes thought he had.  
Because something had told him to visit Lance on this beautiful evening. And since Lance was taking care of Kosmo, he always had an excuse to visit. Keith smiled at the thought.

He had entered earth the way he always did. With Black at his side. He wondered, if Lance had heard him or if he was inside for once.  
Lance tended to be on the fields a lot. The juniberrys blossoming, no matter the time of year.  
Keith smiled sadly at the flowers. “Hey Allura.”, he muttered, petting the almost purple petals.

It was only then, that he saw Lance and Kosmo on the field.  
They were circling each other. Lance was smiling, telling the dog something. Keith approached as his saddened smile turned genuine.   
As suddenly, a white light appeared out of nowhere.

Startled by the sudden blindness, Keith stumbled backwards with a squeal. However, the scream on the other side of the field caused his eyes to rip wide open anyway.  
For a second, a familiar face smiled at him. One moment later, she was gone. Leaving Keith as a troubled mess in the grass. Multiple emotions ran through him, endlessly confusing him. Was that Allura?

But the scream hasn´t stopped. Causing Keith to come to his senses.

Curses replaced the screams, Kosmo was barking. Keith jumped to his feet and hurried over to the place, where his best friend tried to escape Kosmo.

“Kosmo, STOP, what the hell are you doing?!”, he screamed, shocked at what he saw. Kosmo was turning against Lance. He had never done that before. It was so unlike Kosmo, it scared Keith. The dog turned towards him, sniffed him and backed away of both of them. He growled. Fletching his big white teeth.   
Somehow, the giant blue beast didn´t seem accustomed to his height anymore, as he stumbled and tripped over his feet. 

“Lance! What happened, are you okay?” Keith turned towards Lance. His safety being more important right now than Kosmo´s weird behavior.

Lance had finally stopped screaming, as Keith knelt next to him on the ground. A worried expression, open and vulnerable and understanding plastered on his face.

“Keith?! Holy fuck, what happened to your face?”, Lance exclaimed, obviously confused as to why Keith was even here. Whats more, he looked shocked at Keith´s initial reaction, rather than whatever confused him in his face.  
Keith only blinked in response. As he touched his own face in confusion. It took him a second to realize that there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was actually Lance´s face that was missing eternal marks.

“What happened to yours?”, he asked incredulously, wincing as he realized how stupid his remark sounded.

Lance frowned, causing Keith to flinch. Lance had never looked at him like that. Not in a long time. It was then, that Keith noticed something else was off about Lance.  
He looked like usual. Same age, same wounds and scars. What was different was the way Lance carried himself. Of course, they were only sitting on the ground, but Keith just knew something was off. Not to mention the marks were gone. Keith shivered at the thought. Did Allura leave him? Was that why she was here? After torturing him with the memories of her for so long? Why now?

“Nothings wrong with my face, Mullet.”, Lance practically spat at him. Keith couldn´t help but shake his head. He ignored the nickname that was spoken with such malice rather then the fond chuckle Lance used to. He also ignored how his own hair was far too long to be a mullet anymore. Lance was never so rude to him. Or rather, he hadn´t been in years. So, if he really had lost his memories, then this was hardly the Lance Keith knew. So he stood up and held out his hand towards this stranger.

Right now this was what Lance was. The fire in these eyes was young, younger than Lance was at least. Keith´s mind rushed through a thousand possibilities what else could have happened to the boy. But the memory thing seemed quite accurate and logical.  
Keith wouldn´t be too surprised if it were true. Shiro has had amnesia before. Also, they were in space. You wouldn´t assume a white light out of nowhere wouldn´t do anything.  
Though it didn´t make sense, why would Allura erase Lance´s memories? Or did they leave alongside the marks? Did she do this to ease his pain? That was both cruel and thoughtful of her, if he was honest. Or was it an accident? 

Kosmo barked again as he fell to the ground, startled by his own weight, he went down with a flopping sound. Well, now he only needed an explanation why Kosmo was acting just as weird.  
Maybe he lost his memories as well? Then, why didn´t he remember how to walk?

“And what the hell is this monster!” Lance looked around in panic, eyes trying to find something he could recognize. It only settled as he registered the house not too far behind them.

Then a memory seemed to kick in as he locked eyes with Keith again.  
“Wait, this isn´t Kosmo, is it?”, he asked, eyes fixed on the giant dog as he backed away. As though he recognized something in him.

Well, if that didn´t kill his theory.  
Lance didn´t make any attempt to take Keith´s hand, so Keith let it fall to the side in disappointment.  
The guy was in jeopardy. Let him settle first, Keith thought.

“It is.”, he nodded, stepping in between the two of them, afraid of what his dog may do. Because Keith had a feeling that this Kosmo was just as confused about this situation as this Lance was. He couldn´t predict what this wolf may do if left unsupervised.

“He freaking bit me!”, Lance spat at Keith again, holding his leg now. Keith´s eyes shot downwards in a hurried, alarmed motion, but he couldn´t see anything.  
The legs of Lance´s trousers were folded up, like the man sometimes did. The skin underneath was undamaged. “Doesn´t look like it.”, Keith responded. 

Lance stared downwards, shocked at the revelation. “What the hell am I wearing?!”, he hissed and cursed and stood up and stumbled and fell again.  
He was taller than he remembered.

Keith stepped forward, determined to help him up. “Get away from me, you freak.”, Lance shouted at him, trying to stand up again. He was wobbly on his feet. But he managed to stand upright for once.  
Lance looked down at himself. At his arms. “What´s happening?!”, his voice cracked and hadn´t Keith heard that in a while.

“I don´t know. Really. But I think it´s probably best, if we go inside and you tell me what you remember.”, Keith calmly stated, ignoring the weak insult. “You´re not being yourself, and I really want to know what´s going on.” There was no need for him to panic as well. Team Voltron had been through much worse than – whatever this was.

“And why do you of all people think, I would want your help?”, Lance hissed once more. Keith inhaled deeply.  
“Well, how do I explain this? I don´t know exactly what happened to you, or where you´re from, right now. Heck, how do I even know you´re Lance at all? But if you think, I let my best friend just disappear and let him be replaced by a stranger who doesn´t want me around, you´re wrong.  
I need to know what happened, so I can get my friend back, understood. Besides, I´m used to more unsettling things happening.”, Keith responded clearly. There was no room for Lance to talk back.

He just stared at Keith, eyes wide in confusion, as a humorless laugh escaped his lips.  
“YOU think I´m your best friend?” So, that´s what he settled on?

Keith frowned. “Not you. The guy you were yesterday. Today you´re obviously someone else. But if you are somehow like him, maybe him from another universe or whatever, I will help you, if you let me.” Ah, that was also a nice theory.

Lance laughed again. “From another universe? Sure. Is this revenge, because you don´t believe my mermaid story? Alright fine, I get it. I give up. I lied. Okay? Of course mermaids don´t exist. Is this what you want to hear? I made it up, now leave me alone.”

Keith wanted to answer, but in that same moment, Kosmo barked again, as he disappeared midair, causing Lance´s eyes to widen.  
“Oh hell no.”, Keith gulped. This dog was not in control of what he was doing. Disappearing into nothingness couldn´t be a good sign. But soon enough Kosmo reappeared behind Lance, clearly frustrated and confused and panicked. Keith sighed of relief. For a second he was afraid Keith thought Kosmo would never return. Because if the same that had happened to Lance had also happened to Kosmo, there was no way to be sure.

“I´m sorry, Lance? That´s still your name, right? I have no idea what you´re talking about. We can talk about Plaxum later. I kind of have to capture this Kosmo you brought with from wherever you´re from.   
You see, he´s a cosmic dog who can teleport and it seems so, this one has no idea what he´s doing.”

Keith went passed Lance, who sat down once more, staring back at Keith, who was trying to get a grip on the giant dog. Trying to calm him down. And it seemed, whatever he was doing, it seemed to be working.

Keith wasn´t the Keith Kosmo knew. But he was a version of Keith. He was calmer, older, and experienced. Kosmo probably thought, if there was anyone to trust here, it would be him. So calming him down proved to be efficient.  
It took about fifteen minutes for Keith to calm down the giant teleporting beast, while Lance just stared at every moment Kosmo dis- and reappeared out of nowhere with a jowl. 

When Kosmo finally submitted his defeat, Keith calmed him down with soothing words.  
“So, I take it, you don´t have giant magic dogs from other planets in your universe? Or – wait – have you guys even been to space?”, Keith chuckled at the troubled mess that was Lance. Or – respectively – another version of him. Alternate universe did seem quite fitting for this situation. Maybe they switched bodies somehow?

“Of course we don´t – haven´t been, what the hell!”, Lance exclaimed, clearly intimidated by Keith.

“Maybe, we should go inside. You can tell me where you´re from and I can tell you about this world. I´ll call Pidge. They´re a friend of mine. I assure you, they will help us. They literally are the best of the best here. If someone can figure something out, it´s them.”, Keith reassured Lance and once again, reached out his hand for him. There was a lot of explaining to do.

Lance hesitated, but this time he complied, as he took Keith´s hand. He barely had a choice, did he? If a teleporting dog wouldn´t convince him of his strange whereabouts then nothing would. Now, he was at a loss. And this strange version of Keith his first and probably only hope to understand what was going on in here. He had no choice but to trust him.  
Kosmo growled behind him, startling him once more.

“I´m taking it, he doesn´t really like you, does he?”, Keith chuckled.

“If you count biting as a form of liking, then he´s practically in love with me.”, Lance mumbled, avoiding Keith´s eyes. But Keith laughed at that, startling the boy even more than the teleportation had earlier.

“Information number one: The Keith I know is moody and never even smiles.”, he stated in a disturbed manner, as he noticed the way Keith glanced at him in confusion.

“Well -”, Keith scratched his neck.   
“Information number one about this world: we ended the war a few months ago. If I´m not happy now, I won´t ever be.”

Lance gaped at him. “War-”, he said, startled once more. 

“Yes. It went on for a while. I can give you the long version, if you come inside.”  
Lance blinked once more, turning around, eyeing the weird flowers around him in irritation.  
“I´d like that.”, he finally complied, hurriedly letting go of Keith´s hand, as he finally realized he was still holding onto it.

\-------------------------------------

Lance was at a loss for words, when Keith finally finished his story, right after he had messaged Pidge, of course.  
“That´s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.”, he muttered. Reviewing in his mind, how possible it may be that Pidge and Katie were the same person? Or that Mermaids actually existed in this realm. Or that Plaxum was one of them? What were the chances?

“You´re talking about me as though I am some kind of hero.”, he decided to point out. Because if he knew Keith, then Keith wouldn´t make up a story such as this. So, if this world wasn´t completely crazy, Keith would at least tell him that he wasn´t a hero. He couldn´t be. Never.

Keith smiled as he took another sip from his cocoa. “That´s because you are. Well, the other you is.”

Lance pressed his lips together. Never – ever – in his entire life had anyone said something nice about him. This was a bit much.   
Lance felt how emotions flooded his system. Keith had just told him a lot of personal things about himself, too. About things he knew about the Lance he knew. Lance couldn´t help it. There was no way he could live up to his usual demeanor now. Well, normally nobody noticed his mood swings anyway.

“I´m really not.”, he muttered quietly. He didn´t think Keith would hear it. People tended to only notice the bravado he put on display. The way he turned insults into cimpliments for himself. Even if it was actually fake. They only saw the fire in his eyes and assumed he was angry, aggressive. When really, he was hurt or vulnerable. That´s usually when they decided to strike. Not even noticing what it did to him. They never heard his self talking cries.

Neither his siblings, nor his mum, or his drunk dad noticed when he was upset. He didn´t have any friends, except if you could count Hunk. Who was probably still mad at him for the last time he had shouted at him. Because that was the only way Lance knew how to defend himself. By getting loud.

Lance didn´t even remember why he had done that to Hunk of all people. Right now however, he couldn´t bear this. This Keith was talking about him so nicely. Lance didn´t deserve this.   
Plus, Keith neither knew nor hated him. Lance already knew he would disappoint him. He already knew he couldn´t live up to these expectations.

Keith sat down his cup with a light clank, painfully slowly, as he locked eyes with Lance once more.

“Are you okay?”, he asked. Lance blinked, as his stomach turned at the thought of someone actually listening. Caring. A mild pain stretched through his body, causing him to bite his lips. There were cuts in his lips, where did those come from?

“Yes, sure, I´m fine. I mean, I´m not a hero in my world, of course. This Lance you´re talking about, must be a great guy. Then again, he was trained to become a pilot, so he must be.”, he said, trying not to respond in anger or pain. Keith couldn´t be allowed to see this. But Lance´s voice sounded frustrated. Lance flinched at himself. He had just decided to not do that.

Keith frowned once more. Not believing a single world Lance just said.  
“That´s not what I mean. I know Lance. And you look just like him, when he´s trying to avoid painful conversations. You´re not comparing yourself to him, are you?  
You´re two different people. I´m taking it there is no war in your world. And what did you say? 21th century? So you really shouldn´t compare your skills to our scientific standards and a guy who was willing to sacrifice himself for his home because he had to. Be glad you don´t.”

Lance nodded again, avoiding Keith´s eyes.  
“Is that not it?”, Keith asked once more, his hand now reaching out for Lance´s, who flinched away as soon as their hands touched.

Lance stood up once more. “Leave me alone. I´ll go to my room. It´s late.”  
He left Keith at the kitchen table where he looked comfortable, if confused. Like he never knew being anywhere else. He wanted to send this Keith home. Then again, if they were older and there had been a war, and Keith actually lived somewhere between planets, how long did it take him to get here? Did he usually stay the night?

But that wasn´t what bothered Lance most. It was himself who was a stranger here. How could he tell Keith to leave him alone? Lance had practically no authority over this place. And Keith had been so nice, so caring. Lance had ruined everything, hadn´t he?

Lance was troubled. And the worst part was that when he looked at Keith, he could see that this man understood. And cared. Lance just wondered why.

\--------------------------------

Lance slept through the night, until afternoon. Nobody came to wake him. Nobody told him to go to school.  
Lance knew, he was older by a few years. So of course school wasn´t an issue anymore. Also, he was living on a farm apparently. Who was taking care of the cows now, that Lance wasn´t doing anything. Where were his parents? They didn´t appear to be home.

How did his parents get him to become a farmer anyway? Back home they had a garden and that was it.   
Also hard to believe what Keith had told him. That Allura and him had been a thing and after she became an entity, he had thrown away all his future plans to live here again. The Allura he knew didn´t even notice him. She didn´t even acknowledge his existence. Part of him was glad about that. She may be annoyed by his advances, but she had yet to show him how disgusted she really was at him.

Lance sighed into his pillow. Weird, how different it smelled. That was probably the only reason why his dream like self hadn´t forgotten or doubted anything that had happened the day before. People in movies tended to forget where they are during the night. Lance almost laughed. How was that even possible.  
This was no story Lance could have thought for himself. If so, he should have been a movie producer, with excellent imaginative skills.  
But Lance wasn´t.

Lance couldn´t even make real friends. He even failed with imaginative ones. People like Hunk pitied him, that´s why they were there for him. Maybe if Lance finally ended his own miserable existence, he wouldn´t have to worry about any of this anymore. Maybe he wouldn´t bother anyone else anymore. He sighed. Wasn´t that a pointless conversation? 

He debated whether to stand up now or not. But he didn´t. He didn´t even bother to open his eyes. He really didn´t want to see his room being organized with shelves and books and all that. He didn´t want to see how a Lance lived who had his life in order.  
He wanted his switch to get his mind off of this stupid situation. But as it was his luck, this reality didn´t even have TV´s.

He had found his phone earlier, but those were two metal sticks and that was it. He didn´t understand how they worked, so he was left alone with his mind.   
And he had tried so carefully to avoid his mind for years, ever since – well, it doesn´t matter now, does it? He won´t change anyway.

Suddenly, he heard voices.   
Keith´s was the one he recognized most of course. The guy´s voice was deep and calm and kinda soothing, Lance had to admit.  
It was a miracle that the man hadn´t ridiculed Lance yet.

There was another voice outside his door. It sounded like Katie Holt. Who was Pidge in this dimension. If they were in his world, Pidge would probably kill him for finding out.

“You think it might have anything to do with the stone? It was still glowing when Kosmo panicked.”, Keith said.   
“Maybe. It´s possible. It´s from the quantum abyss, you said? I think, if we manage to find the right reality in which Lance has disappeared to, I might be able to contact them. Or Hunk and I try building a new tracking device. This thing has some serious energies. I wouldn´t be surprised, if we can find him through that.”

“That would be great, thank you. Is Hunk coming? He said he wanted to pick Shiro up, but I haven´t heard of Shiro, since yesterday.”  
“Yes, they are on their way. He told me, he would bring Shay as well. Coran Is preparing everything on Altea, before he´s heading here. Whatever that means. Probably school stuff.” Right, Coran had created a school on Altea. One which the other Lance visited sometimes to tell them the story of the great princess Allura. Or so Keith had explained the day before.

“That´s great. Thank you. Do you want to inspect the place where I saw her?”  
There was no sound as Pidge responded. Lance guessed they were either nodding or shaking their head.  
But he assumed it was the former as he heard a scratching noise. Keith had seen Allura?

Lance put the blanket over his head once more. “Please don´t come in.”, he whispered to himself.

“Should we ask him to come with?”, he heard Pidge asking and cringed at the thought.   
“Let him sleep. He doesn´t seem well. All this new information must be really exhausting.”, Keith answered in a serious tone.  
Never ever, had Lance been so relieved to hear anything from Keith. Maybe, because the Keith he knew had never been this accepting of him before. He wouldn´t have stood up for him.  
This Keith was different. Lance wondered how the other him deserved that level of kindness.

Keith must care deeply for Lance McClain of this world, if it extended to the sad excuse that auLance was.

Lance gritted his teeth once more.  
Now, he really had to get up. There was no excuse anymore. He couldn´t lie in bed all day, or else it may become a habit. More than it already was, that is.  
Then again, what was the point? He was in no hurry to get back to his world. There was nobody and nothing there that he wanted to return to.

Though, he had to admit it kinda stung how far they were willing to go to bring their Lance back- Because their Lance was so much better than him, of course they would want him gone. No. That was unfair. The Lance of this world actually was better and they knew him and they cared for him. Of course they would want him back.  
But what of auLance´s people? They were probably glad he was gone. Maybe the other Lance was in his body now, enduring all the blank stares and whispers auLance was already used to.   
Would anyone believe him, when he told them where he´s from? Probably not.

Or worse, what if they actuall liked him better?

Lance rolled around in his bed. Eyes wide open as he stared at the ceiling. With a groan, he finally stood up. He had to move, his body demanded it.  
When he searched for clothes in the cabin on the other side of the room, he flinched. All of these clothes looked tight. Only one oversized jacket in a greyish- green color looked like something he would wear.   
Next to him was a giant mirror.

Lance stared at his reflection, as soon as he pulled of his shirt. This Lance looked – good. Kind of. He looked like he was starving though. With his rips visible. But that wasn´t what threw Lance of.  
There were scars all over his body. His arms, though muscled looked as though someone had cut his arm of once and someone else had tried to stitch it back on.  
It was a miracle that there wasn´t a limp missing on him.

What startled him most though, was his backside. A giant scar, a few degrees lighter than his normal skin color stretched over his entire spine. Multiple small scars covered his shoulder blades.   
He gaped at himself. The stubble and dark circles under his eyes forgotten, as he tried to trace them with his hand. But he couldn´t reach all of it.

“This was your first wound.”, a voice interrupted him and Lance almost jumped out of his skin. He hadn´t noticed Keith coming in.  
“Have you ever heard of knocking!”, he shouted at him in mild panic, trying to cover himself, as he hurried to reach his clothes that waited for him on the bed.

Keith chuckled lightly. “Oh, I´m sorry. I´m not used to you – acting like that.”  
“I´m not acting! This is private! Get out!” But Lance´s mind said something else. You actually do that all the time? He asked himself. The Lance of this world is okay with that? 

Keith seemed to consider, but walked over to Lance instead, gripping his hand and gently leading him back towards the mirror.  
Lance wanted to protest, but the sudden contact had left him speechless.

“Relax.”, he chuckled. “Lance and I have been through war together. Of course I´ve seen him like this before. Actually, I think there´s nothing I haven´t seen yet.”   
Lance froze at the implication.

“Lance wasn´t always the person we know today.”, Keith suddenly got serious. Remembering something rather important as he started to explain. Keith wasn´t looking at him but his reflection, as though he could find his friend there.  
Lance looked down in shame. He was a bit ashamed of being this indecent, while also feeling like he was prying in something he wasn´t meant to witness. As if he was disturbing something that was between this Keith and the other Lance and only between them.

“He once told me about how he used to be, when we first visited Allura´s grave. You remind me of that description. And somehow a bit like the Lance that he was when we first met.”  
Lance looked up at that.

“At the Garrison, Lance was always the guy everyone overlooked. Me included, to be honest. He was sticking up for other people as much as he could. Pidge is still trying to get that into his head, truthfully. He still doesn´t believe them. And Hunk told me that Lance would get yelled at at literally every chance Iversion got. Mostly because of things that were his fault of course. But many other things too that weren´t. Hunk said, that Lance never complained about it.

Lance avoided his eyes now. “Yeah, no. That doesn´t sound like me.”

“No. That´s not you.”, Keith agreed in thought.  
“There is nobody you can stick up for, right?”, he added and then looked at Lance, finally. Lance looked back, in those dark, honest eyes that held no despise for him.

“Lance was loud and annoying and obnoxious. Ever since he was a child. That is what he was told me. When we got to space, that was what everyone saw in him. The dumb one. The guy least good at everything. Nobody ever took him serious.  
But Lance is also kind. He cares a lot more than all of us combined. And literally the first thing he did when we were in space and on our first attack, he jumped to save a man he had never known before. And he jumped in front of a bomb.  
That´s were those scars are from. He almost died that day. Because he values the life of others more than his own. He still doesn´t believe how amazing he is.   
And, I know I don´t know who exactly you are in your world. But I think I can recognize that trait in you.”

“Yeah, sure and how would you see that? I haven´t done anything but sleep, since I´ve come here. You know basically nothing about me.”, Lance answered, irritated at the story. Why was Keith telling him all this?

“Maybe you haven´t had the chance to prove yourself yet. But the I can recognize this trait in your eyes. You have the same look in your eyes as he had back then. There is a fire in them. One that says that you have hopes and dreams for the future, even if they are diminished by what other people think of you. I can see that you are fighting, even right now and that is freaking brave, if you ask me.  
I always admired that part of him. And I do of you now.   
But it´s also the trait he lost when Allura disappeared.”

Lance was at a loss for words. 

“What she did to Lance, however... I loved her of course. But what she did to Lance was cruel. I´ve never said it. But he deserves better than to be a second choice, right after Lotor died.  
And to get those marks – they were hers and a promise to never leave him. It still bothers me. She meant well. But it´s like he´s caught. Unable to ever move on. I will always hate her for that. He´s never been the same since.”

Keith averted his eyes from Lance´s now. 

“Why are you telling me this?”, Lance said, feeling his insides curl up from second hand pain and his memories of the Allura he had fallen for. It was strange. How can this Keith be so sure?

“You look lost.”, Keith said and then pressed his lips together. And then: “I can´t help but trust you. And I want you to trust me as well. We will get you home. Don´t worry.”

And with that he finally left the room.  
Lance stood there in stunned silence, wondering what all this was about. But for the first time in years, a warmth flooded his mind, easing the painful thoughts for once.   
He couldn´t help it. Keith may be talking about another Lance, but he wasn´t pretending he didn´t exist. And the words “I can´t help but trust you.”, followed him for the rest of the day. And Lance would hold onto them, unable to let them go.  
It was the nicest thing, anyone has said to him in years.   
He desperately wanted Keith to be right. That thought was scary, Lance decided. 

\---------------------

Lance sat in the kitchen now. He heard familiar voiced whisper outside the door.  
Keith was outside as well, trying to calm his friends. “Please, go in one by one. I have this feeling that Lance can´t bear meeting everyone at once right now. Go easy on him please. Especially you, Hunk. You might squeeze the life out of him, if you go too fast.”

Lance smiled despite himself. Keith could actually read his mind in this world, couldn´t he? He was absolutely right. Meeting Pidge earlier that day had already proven difficult as they had used strange devices to test his vital functions right from the get go.  
It had been exhausting, answering so many questions at once. Now that he thought about it, Keith hadn´t bothered him with questions at all. He had only explained what he knew, what he understood of his situation. He hadn´t pressured Lance to talk, but made sure he knew that he would be there for him, if needed.

Lance relaxed a bit as he took another breath. Never thought Keith could ever be such a person to him. Like a rock to hold on to, his mind added unhelpfully.

Hunk went in first, crying as he hugged him far too tight and definitely out of his comfort zone. Lance squirmed in his grip. He wasn´t used to hugs. Not even his mother hugged him like this.  
As finally, Lance pushed Hunk away, breathing heavy, eyes wide in shock and fear, he saw the broken look on Hunk´s face.  
“Oh my god, Lance. I am so sorry. I – Keith warned me, but. I just wanted to make sure you´re okay. I´m so sorry!”  
Lance shrunk in his position. “It´s fine.”, he squeaked, hating how high and rough his voice became. He felt bad. Hunk meant well, after all.

Next was Shiro, who barely walked in and nodded at him. He sat down in front of him and asked how he felt. Like a dad would, Lance thought.   
And he had this feeling that Shiro wasn´t exactly the type to comfort others. He could imagine why. Keith had told him what had happened to Adam in this world.

Lance, who hadn´t even known they were in a relationship and had just assumed they were roommates in his own world, felt a guilty sting in his heart as he remembered all those words he had said to auKeith about it. Then again, were they really a couple in his world?

The woman, Shay, that Hunk had come with had only introduced herself. She looked kind, but strange. Lance had been warned that she was basically made of rock and had anticipated what may happen if he met her. But her warm presence was soothing, in a way. The space between them comfortable, unlike what Lance was used to. But the kind he would prefer.

Coran, a ginger haired, mustached old man had started squirming as soon as he saw Lance. Retelling what happened to him in a tragic, theatrical way that left Lance confused and uncomfortable at the same time. It truly was a rollercoaster or emotions, meeting them all.

Now, as Keith had prepared dinner for them – Lance noticed how Keith just seemed to know everything about this house – Lance sat at the kitchen table, watching Keith running around. While his friends were trying to get in contact with Kosmo who was overwhelmed by their presence just as much as Lance had been.

Lance stood quiet the entire time. He couldn´t exactly explain why he couldn´t approach the giant beast and hoped that nobody would ask.   
“Lance”, Keith finally spoke up. “Yeah?”, Lance whispered his response, mind elsewhere.

“I know you probably want to go home as soon as possible. But since we don´t yet know how to get you there, do you want to explore this world a bit? We could test if Red still lets you fly her, or I could take you with Black.”

“What?”

“You remember I told you about Voltron? A giant robot made from five seperate lions. Who are space ships? You may not get a chance to see the stars up close in your world.”, Keith looked over his shoulder at him, while cutting some ingredients.

Lance opened his mouth, but his mind tried to imagine it. “I like the stars.”, he muttered and it was true. He had always looked at the stars, dreaming of reaching them one day. And he wasn´t in a hurry to get home.   
His sister used to make fun of him for that. She didn´t anymore. Much has changed since she met Acxa. Her girlfriend.

“I´d love to.”, he said more loudly and could see Keith smile at him. Lance smiled back.  
He really didn´t deserve this.

\--------------------------

Dinner went by slowly, as everyone shared stories of where they had been those past couple of weeks. Only Lance stood quiet, eating his garlic knots with great appetite.   
Keith had looked relieved when he saw him eating and send him a grateful smile. Lance wondered what that was about. However, it may be connected to the fact that he felt like he had been starving for weeks.

At the same time, Pidge tried to explain to him that the lions were able to fly through realities. At least, Voltron was able to. They just needed to know which reality was his. Then they needed a new blue paladin, since Allura – well. And perhaps they needed a red paladin as well, since Lance might not be able to pilot her anymore.  
Lance just nodded. He didn´t understand a single word they said. They tried explaining that the lions were sentient and choose their paladins based on certain traits, but Lance zoned out. If you had to have a certain personality, if you had to be the chosen one, then surely it would take time until they found the right paladins.  
He felt exhausted at the thought. He really must be inconveniencing them. 

After dinner, Keith washed the dishes, insisting that Lance relaxed for the moment.   
The others went back to their respective lions, as they spend the night in there.   
Lance, who hadn´t seen any of the lions yet, doubted they would hold much space for the paladins, but hey, he wasn´t going to point that out to them.

“So, you coming?”, Keith finally asked, smiling gently at Lance. Lance gulped, then nodded, as he grabbed another jacket and followed Keith outside in the clear night. 

Right outside the field, Lance could finally see the giant beast. Swallowed by the darkness, black stood there in all his glory. His eyes were glowing. But that wasn´t what put Lance off.  
He had heard of their size, yes, but this lion was huge. Almost as tall as a small mountain.  
If Lance hadn´t believed the alternate universe theory through the teleporting dog the day before, he surely would have believed the story now. 

“Amazing, isn´t it?”

Lance couldn´t talk, so he nodded. Hoping that it would be enough for Keith to keep going.  
A second later, the giant cat started moving, causing Lance to grip Keith´s arm in fear.   
As he remembered himself, he let go of the grinning man who had started to laugh at his instinctual reaction.

“You want me to get eaten by a giant cat!”, Lance hissed and the laughter grew louder.  
“Oh yes, quite literally so.”, Keith agreed, as the giant cat finally opened his mouth.

Lance gaped as he looked at the ramp, then at Keith. Then he moved forward. Hesitantly at first, then faster, as he finally ran up the ramp. It was only when he saw the controls inside the giant mouth that he stopped.   
Lights and holographic screens showed a map of this planet. Others the direct view they had from their position.

“Our Lance always wanted to be a pilot. He always wanted to be our leader. I still can hardly believe he stepped down to let me live his dream.”, Keith said as he slowly followed behind Lance.  
And Lance noticed the way Keith had distanced him from the other Lance of this world.  
He didn´t know what to think of that. So he ignored it for now. All he knew was that his insides jumped from excitement at the sight in front of him. This was a chance he would never have in his own world. He might as well enjoy it.

“You wanna visit the Baku?”

“What´s the Baku?”, Lance asked, slightly taken aback by the change of topic.  
“The Baku is the mermaid planet I told you about. When you get home, your claims to have seen mermaids wouldn´t be a lie anymore.”

Lance´s hands fell down at his sides at that. “I´d rather not.”, he said painfully. He couldn´t imagine it to be good if he was faced with a couple of mermaids that his alternate self had saved. Also, he couldn´t bear the thought of actually meeting them. Seeing them with his own eyes. His own lies a betrayal of themselves.

“Alright, as you wish. Then a quick drive it is.” And with that Keith sat down in front of the controls. Lights flickered up at his mare touch, as Lance felt the entire room moving. The cat had risen his head again and lowered itself to jump upwards.

Lance screamed in delight as the lion flew of. Faster than any plane, any ship he ever saw. And Lance had been on planes ever since he was a child.  
He had dreamed of becoming a pilot one day. But his grades were awful, so it was unlikely he would ever become one.  
Except, now he was in a giant spaceship and in the matter of seconds, he saw planets flying by him. What took humans in his time years to accomplish, or would as soon as they figured out how to survive in space for so long, took them seconds.

In minutes they had already left the solar system and saw other stars and planets fly passed them.  
“You´ve got to be kidding.”, Lance whispered, not daring to disturb the silence of space.  
“You wanna see something else?”

Keith flew down on another planet. Lance´s eyes widened in surprise. Somehow he had forgotten that was actually a thing that could happen. That Keith could do.   
He drove down, as close to the surface as he would dare, causing water on the planet to spray high up beside him. Taller than mountains, leaving a giant rainbow in it´s path.

Lance awed at the sight. 

“This is amazing.”, he added once more, smiling like an idiot. He couldn´t remember when he last had so much fun, when something had amazed him to this extend of ecstasy. 

“You know what? If Red does accept you back, you might get to fly her yourself. If you want that is.” Keith laughed at his joy.

“Didn´t you say the other me used to fly the blue lion at first? I mean, if I am more like the Lance who had started your journey than the one he had become during it, as you said – you know?”, Lance reasoned. For the first time allowing himself that probability. Though a part of him winced at the thought. “Don´t get you hopes up.”, he wasn´t sure if he said that out loud or not.

“Oh, yes. But as you became co-leader of Voltron, Red choose you. And Blue choose Allura as your successor.  
The lions choose their pilots based on their skills and personality. And the blue lion chooses someone who-”. Keith stopped midrant.  
“You know what, I think blue might actually choose you once more. I think you´re right.”

Lance looked at him curiously, hopes rising up against his will. He wanted this. 

“Honestly? I think you might not be confident enough to get Red to trust you. She´s really picky. I had to throw myself out an airlock to gain her trust.... Though she was a lot easier on you... the other you. Maybe she´ll accept me back. Maybe Black will accept Shiro once more. Than we´d be back in our original formation.” Keith grinned a little, stumbling over his comparison with Lance.

Lance gulped, as he finally sat down. The excitement of the flight settling in his stomach and evening out. Something didn´t feel right. It wasn´t the pressure of space, of course, but maybe the endless void of stars that confused him right now.  
Red wouldn´t choose him. His mind teased. What kind of personality must one have to pilot the blue lion then?

“Who does Blue choose.”, he asked, his stomach angrily growling at him for not letting him have fun for much longer. Unknowing whether or not he wanted to hear the answer. If Keith expected him to be chosen – what would happen if he failed? Somehow, Lance felt that he didn´t want to know what it felt like when this Keith was disappointed in you. Dont get your hopes up, his mind lauhged at him, knowing how much he had failed that already.

“Blue chooses someone who has potential. Who cares for others more than themselves. But also someone who doubts themselves. That´s also why she chose Allura. She doubted her worth as princess and friend. But blue chooses the one who lighten ups the mood in the room. The one who brings everyone together. The one who supports the others. Lance once called Allura the heart of Voltron. But really, that was him, I am certain of that.”

“And how exactly do I brighten the mood or bring people together?”, Lance commented, hesitantly, his hopes already leaving his system.

“You brought Voltron together, just by appearing here, didn´t you? And I´m guessing, if you´re somehow like Lance used to be – people always make jokes at your expense, don´t they? Sorry for that by the way. I never realized how much those jokes hurt you. I always assumed that was what you wanted. But it does light the mood, doesn´t it.”, Keith almost joked.

“You mean, at his expense.”, Lance said heavily. And already cringed on the inside. Well to ruin the fun, he thought as they passed a blue glowing sun.

“You know that´s not what I mean.”, Keith hurried to say.   
“Yeah – no. But that´s what it sounds like.”, Lance countered. He sighed. “What if she doesn´t choose me?”, he asked, trying to change the subject, but failing all the same.

“Well, if it doesn´t work, we´ll figure out something else.”, Keith said after a while of thinking.  
Lance perked up at him once more. “What?”, he asked surprised. Maybe he should have expected that answer.  
Keith turned to him with a guilty smile. “What´s that look on your face. You didn´t think I´d expect you to solve this situation on your own, did you?”

“But – I caused this mess -”, Lance stuttered, feeling defensive all of a sudden. He bit back the initial remark he had in his throat.

“You really believe that?”, Keith wondered at him. “I can assure you, you haven´t done anything to cause this mess.  
In fact, I´m pretty sure I´m the one to blame. I´ve found this stone in the quantum abyss.  
It actually works as a sort of alarm. There is a spell that allows me to check on the person I gave it to. So I gave Kosmo the stone, so he could teleport between my friends. I send Kosmo to Lance, so I could check if he´s okay.”

Lance opened his mouth to answer, but he felt a sudden anger inside him grow to immense levels. And he hated himself for it already, because he knew Keith must have his reasons for doing this, but he couldn´t help it.  
“So, you´re saying, you´ve been spying on him this entire time.”, he said through gritted teeth, balling his hands to fists as the thought of betrayal crossed his mind and inflamed his anger.

“Well, not exactly. I checked on him about once a week. That´s not spying, that´s-”

“Without him knowing.”, Lance bit back another remark. But his mind betrayed him anyway. -stalking, it said. Just when he had thought, it would be okay to trust Keith. He felt bad. Really bad. Mad and angry and afraid and weirdly betrayed and – frustrated that he even felt that way. This wasn´t even about him.

“Yes, but – you don´t understand. Lance wasn´t feeling well. He had stopped eating, stopped caring about himself. He was working himself to death. I just – I wanted to check on him. Because he´s my friend. Just – No. You wouldn´t understand.”

Lance froze, as pain stabbed him without warning. As the feelings conflicted inside him, he felt something entirely else spreading through him. A feeling he remembered all too clearly. A feeling he dreaded to feel. A feeling that came to rescue him from prying eyes.  
But all that zoned out, as the feeling was emptiness. Lance gave up and sat down legs crossed. Arms impossible close to himself, as he pulled his hood over his head.

“Let´s go back.”, he said simply. He didn´t have it in him to argue.   
“Lance, I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to -”, Keith sounded how he felt, impossibly sorry as he realized his mistake.

“No. You´re right. Clearly.”, Lance said bitterly. Because it was true. Being spied upon was one thing. One wrong – maddening thing. But it was also true that Lance didn´t – couldn´t understand Keith´s motive. There was no one Lance truly cared about. There was no one who cared like that about Lance.

Keith turned the ship around without another word, biting his lip until it bled and the taste of blood lingered on bitterly for the rest of the ride.

\----------------------------

Lance went for a walk. He did sometimes, when his mind was blank and refused to accept his emotions. Lance had learned earlier in life that having emotions was no sign of weakness. At least when nobody saw it. And surely he could zone them out for some time, drown them in games and stuff.  
But when he felt nothing, whenever he felt truly nothing, then even a game couldn´t bring the joy he was yearning for.   
It made matters worse, actually. He´d feel even emptier.

So he went outside and would walk until his feet hurt. Until his mind was forced to recognize pain, until his mind would face the torture he put himself under.  
Lance went alone. In the protection of the night.

He felt utterly stupid. For a moment he had been happy, when Keith had looked at him. Trying to really see him. But Lance recognized how stupid that was. Keith had been trying to see the other Lance in him. They were not the same.   
For a moment, he had been sad, because he couldn´t live up to the glory of this man he never was.

For a friction of time he was relieved when Keith remembered himself. And then lonely, because he was all alone in this world. Nobody he knew, nobody who actually cared for him.  
He was a temporary guest. And all the faked and pitied kindness directed his way of short endurance.  
He was foolish to have thought he was welcome here. He was foolish for letting their kindness blind him. When all they wanted was a version of him who didn´t exist. At least not in him. Not right now.

Lance blinked away the angry tears. And the worst thing was that back at his home, where he truly belonged, he didn´t belong either. They probably didn´t even miss him, did they?  
He knew they didn´t. They were probably happy with the other Lance there, if he was somehow like Keith had described him to him.

Keith. The Keith Lance grew up with – the Keith he knew, hated him.  
There was a time, before Lance had made the mistake of making fun of Shiro, before Keith had stopped looking at him – that their bickering had been his only reason to stand up in the morning.  
He had had a goal in the morning. Even if it was a stupid one.  
Make Keith angry – make him mad. Win a pointless argument. After a while, he had convinced himself that it was fun for Keith as well.

And he had realized that the Keith of his world was compassionate, patient, competitive, funny, oblivious and easy to tease. Keith was irritable, smart, agile and the only one who didn´t seem annoyed by Lance. But positively enraged by his jokes and challenges.  
Lance liked that about him. But where was the point of liking someone who has turned against you. So he had convinced himself to hate Keith too.  
The Keith of this world had reminded him of the old Keith. The Keith Lance met initially. And yet, even this Keith had proven to be no different than anyone else. And quite different from the Keith Lance had gotten to know. So maybe, the other Lance was just as different from himself.   
Keith was wrong after all.

Au Keith had started avoiding him. And it was like Lance had lost his sole purpose for existing, he remembered. Now – that was not fair. It was not Keith´s fault. It was Lance´s alone. For not having a reason to live. But having none to die either. Except. Lance stood still, as he reached the forest.   
He could stop being a burden for those around him. He shook his head. Not this thought again. This was ridiculous. His mother would smack him if she had heard that.

“Suicidals are selfish.”, she once told him. “They only care about their problems and how to escape them instead of facing them.”  
Lance winced at that conversation. For once, he didn´t want to be selfish. Nobody needed to know how he felt.  
Nobody needed to see his pain. He could deal with it right? He had up until now. Then again – was it really his pride that kept him alive? Because that one was dying out day by day. With nothing to be proud of.

No, he wouldn´t end his life today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe when he returned to his own body. He couldn´t kill this other Lance. This Lance who deserved to live.

Lance stared at his feet. Wasn´t it the same, when he had pretended to have seen mermaids? Hadn´t he told everyone he was a better person now? Hadn´t he told them he would skip trying and just be better?  
Sure, he had shown off as usual, but he practically spit in their faces what he wanted to be. This other version of him. The one he wanted to be so bad. Maybe that´s the kind of person the other Lance was. Maybe he had managed to become that.

Except for a few people, this ideal version had been more popular, more liked than him. More people had laughed at him. More people had enjoyed talking to him. Even if they made fun of him.  
They at least noticed him. They at least hadn´t ignored him.  
At least he could pretend they had cared.

But he had barely lasted a week. He had barely lasted long enough to make the word spread. Pretending to be someone you´re not is exhausting. How long would he be able to pretend? How much longer could he have put that mask on?  
So that nobody saw him for who he really was? Was their liking him any worth? They didn´t make him feel ignored, sure. They didn´t make him feel hated.   
But nonexistent. Actually nonexistent.  
No. Lance made himself feel that way.  
He was homesick. But he didn´t know why. There was nothing he had ever truly called home.

He sat down on a fallen branch somewhere in the forest. Protected from sight by bushes and other trees. And started crying. But no sound escaped his lips. It never did.

\--------------

Kosmo pov.:

He went through the forest on silent paws. Teeth fletching, eyes narrowed.  
Kosmo may have a different body now, but that only made him stronger, more dangerous. The enemy, the boy, also had a different body now.   
The boy who always lashed out on him. And even worse, his owner. Who wasn´t here, so Kosmo had to revenge him.   
He could take revenge for his owner. It must be the boy´s fault for Kosmo to have lost him.   
The one who protected him from the shelter. From the mad men who shouted and hit him just the way the boy did.

Kosmo followed his scent. It was slightly different from what he was used to. It smelled older, trained, dusty somehow. He smelled that same dusty smell on himself. So maybe that´s why he couldn´t make out what it was.

In the darkness of the night, the protection of trees and bushes, there sat the boy on a branch.

Kosmo lowered himself, already preparing to attack, when suddenly, he smelt something else.  
Hurt. How does hurt smell like, you ask? It smelled like salty tears, hot skin and lack of self esteem. That doesn´t help you at all?  
Well, Kosmo is a dog. A cosmic wolf to be more precise. He didn´t have the abilities to explain himself.

And then, the boy started talking. Maybe Kosmo was just a dog, but in this body, of an advanced dog, he could understand what Lance was saying.

“Maybe, I just want the pity.”, the voice said in such a sadness that Kosmo´s ears perked up.  
“Maybe, all I want is the attention. This is pathetic. All of this is pathetic.  
What if I killed myself.”

There were pauses in between the sentences, like Lance was talking to himself, his mind answering and showing him images that Kosmo couldn´t see.  
He was testing, Kosmo realized. Testing how these sentences sound out loud.

Lance shook his head. “This is ridiculous.”, he said. This time as a statement, rather than a test.  
“If I truly wanted to die, I would have done so already. Maybe I´m not brave enough to do this.  
Also, what if I failed? What if somebody found me? What if they saved me and demanded an explanation?  
I can´t explain myself.”, he muttered. “I am pathetic.”, he added and smiled. A smile so painful, Kosmo couldn´t help but pity him.

But he felt that Lance didn´t want that. He knew, Lance didn´t want that.  
Lance wanted to be okay. Because he wasn´t. It´s as simple as that. It doesn´t matter how true or useful his thoughts were. It never matters. Sometimes that´s just how you feel. Just that to Lance it must have become a habit.

Kosmo stood up once more, closing in on Lance.

It took a moment for Lance to notice him, for his eyes to go wide and flinch back as he stood up in fear of him.  
He didn´t even relax as he noticed Keith wasn´t with him.  
“Shit.”, Lance growled, as he hid behind the branch.

Kosmo barked at him. Eyes narrow, his stare fierce and challenging, but Lance didn´t respond. It puzzled Kosmo. Normally the boy would have started shouting instantly.  
Sure, only at Keith, but it would be loud in his ears. It would hurt the drums inside them.  
Lance just stared at him, prepared to flee.  
And then Kosmo understood.

This was not a fight.   
It never had been. This boy had never been his enemy. This boy was a cornered animal. A cornered child. Lashing out, because it was the only thing he could do.  
He was fighting. Himself and the world and the people around him. It was a pointless fight against nothingness, fueled only by his own stubbornness.  
Kosmo stood tall in front of the cowering boy, silent, as he never had been upon seeing him.  
And then he nodded and blinked. And left.

\------------------------------------

Lance poV:

When Lance returned, the sun had already gone up. He felt tired and exhausted and confused at Kosmo´s reaction earlier.  
But he also felt weirdly relieved. There was still some kind of emptiness plaguing him. But it was the one after the storm. After dried out tears that nobody ever noticed, because Lance´s eyes somehow refused to get puffy and red.

He silently closed the door behind him.

“You´re back.”, a voice said and startled him.   
“Yes, yeah. Just – taking a walk...”, Lance said, not telling the exact truth. Somehow he had fallen asleep in the forest. He felt everything hurting inside, but he felt a bit – better somehow.   
Maybe, admitting to himself how he felt did that.

“All night?”, Keith noted, unimpressed and sighed as Lance´s eyes widened.  
“I´ve been worried, you know?! I tried to contact you, but you left your phone here! What were you thinking? I didn´t know where you went, I didn´t know when you´d come back! I searched for you through black. If it wasn´t for him telling me that you needed the space and him promising he would tell me should something happen, I would have tracked you down. You could have hurt yourself. You could have gotten yourself lost or injured or worse! Do you even know how many enemies you have here?  
You should have said something!”

Lance shrunk in on himself. 

“I´m sorry.”, he mumbled in defeat. 

“I´m sorry won´t cut it, Lance. If you had died – Somewhere in your world, you have family, you have friends. There is a place you have to return to. What would happen if you died here?”

“You can just say it, you know.”, Lance muttered now. He felt his insides cringe again. The tears already dwelling once more.

“What? I can´t hear you, please speak up.”, Keith demanded, walking closer now.

“I said, you can say it! You want the other Lance back. I get it. But guess what? You´re stuck with me now. Just like my people where my entire life. Give them a break.   
Your Lance will be a nice distraction for them. There is no need to hurry, because guess what else? You´re wrong. There is no single person in my world I can return to.  
There is no place where I belong. If it bothers you so much that I´m here, why don´t you just lock me up or send me away or – I dunno. Why don´t you just get rid of me. Oh right, because this is not my body, right. I forgot. What a pity.”

Lance turned on his heel, walking passed a frozen Keith, and slamming his door closed.

Great, now he had done it. He slouched down at his door, tears already short from spilling.  
This was not what he had planned. He had planned to be calm. He had planned to be nice here. Hadn´t he?  
But he had already ruined it again, just because he was selfish and ridiculously pathetic. He stared at the ceiling.  
A part of him wished that Keith would just do it. Just – end his life. But he knew Keith wouldn´t. And Lance didn´t deserve to do it himself. He just wasn´t cut out for suicide.  
He had known that the first time he tried. And given up. His life, his mind, his everything literally couldn´t get any worse.  
Which was ridiculous, because there were so many things he was supposed to be thankful for.

His parents had never hit him. He had never had to starve. He had never been truly alone in his life. He was healthy and rarely sick. Heck, he could eat all the junk he wanted without gaining wheight. He knew enough people who were jealous of that.  
It truly was useless, the way he felt. The way he was. Because he simply was. And he couldn´t stop that.

There was a knock at his door. But Lance didn´t answer.

“Lance?”, Keith said, quietly, as if not to disturb Lance´s already freaked out mind. “we need to talk. I need to tell you something.”

“If it is another thing your precious Lance has told you, stick it up elsewhere. I don´t want to hear it.”

He heard Keith trembling behind that door. As if he was bracing himself for his next words.  
As if he had never wanted to say them. To have to say them. But auLance couldn´t know what Lance had told Keith long ago, back when he had first opened up to him.

“They hate you.”

Lance froze, as the words cut deep, deep inside him. Because he heard the pain in that sentence.

“They all do. Nobody likes you.” There was a silence then, as Lance didn´t dare respond. As he waited for more. As he waited for the finishing blow.  
And it came, as he heard Keith leave. The slow steps of insecurity, of fear and anxiety.

He left Lance by himself, mouth open, tears spilling and heartbroken in the instant that the words had hit him. As he realized, now he was truly alone.  
And then Lance cried once more. But not like before. This time he was trembling, his voice breaking as he screamed into the void.

\-------------------

“What the actual hell did you do?!”, Pidge stared at Keith who sat at the kitchen table, face hidden in his hands, as he tried not to tremble himself.

“What I had to.”, he answered simply, while the cries he heard from Lance´s room burned through his skin.

“You broke him!”

“I had to.”, Keith repeated.

“No, you didn´t. You had no right to -”

“Pidge. Stop, please. Let me explain.”

“Yeah, I´m sure there is a great explanation on how telling someone you hate them is a good idea.”

“I never said it´s a good idea.”, Keith answered through gritted teeth.

“Then what on earth made you say that!”

“I – I can´t tell you that.”, Keith took a deep breath, when he finally managed to look at Pidge. The anger was radiating from them. Then they huffed and went towards Lance´s room. Knocking, only to be greeted by silence and a locked door.  
“I promise you, Keith. If he hurts himself over this, I´ll have you hanged.”, she shouted at him.

\----------------------------

“I was stuck in a circle of self hatred.”, Lance said, looking at the head stone tiredly. “Back, at the Garrison, before we met. Before I met any of you, really.  
No matter what anyone said or did, I always saw how they disliked me. And with time, I started lashing out at others, rather then accepting their critics.   
I couldn´t see the good in myself anymore and I couldn´t believe that anyone would ever like me.”

“Yeah, no. That´s not the Lance I got to know.”, Keith answered, doubtfully, wondering what all this was about.

“No. Because you met me after my breaking point.”, Lance hesitated. Before I build myself back up. It was – another time that it happened. But I wish someone would have done that sooner.”

Keith uncrossed his arms. “What do you mean?”  
“If I had reached that point sooner, I wouldn´t have suffered for so long by my own doing. All I needed was to see how pointless my pain truly was. I needed to be sure it couldn´t get any worse, so I could start looking up again.   
If someone had told me how worthless I truly was, I would have had a reason to stand up and prove them otherwise.   
I was pathetic, I know. And I know many have endured worse and many endure worse everyday without pitying themselves. But that never made my pain any less real or valid. At least to me.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I want to make sure, you don´t pity me. I know Allura is dead. And yes I will miss her forever and ever more. But I will learn to live with that. I know it will be hard, but I know I can deal with it. So, please don´t worry about me. Because I know you will. Just please, keep being who you´ve always been  
I will move on. All I need is time. I´m asking you to grand me that.”

\-------------------

AuLance pov:

The tears dried out on his skin, without him attempting to dry them.   
He knew Keith didn´t mean what he said. He knew the trembling sound of hidden tears, even through wooden doors.   
But that wasn´t what bothered him anyway. It wasn´t that Keith had said it. It was that Lance had thought this before. Known this before. And despite knowing, he had avoided the thought. Telling himself that maybe this was just his imagination. Telling himself that this thought itself was cowardly and stupid. It was this spark of hope that was completely destroyed the moment Keith had put them in words.  
It was the fact that it was the truth. The truth Lance could easily believe.

Lance was still shaking, his mind unable to process what he had just heard.  
His body felt limp, as he stared at the ceiling. He needed a robe. Or a blade, he thought. Just something to end this. He couldn´t deal with this anymore.  
“How pathetic.” Lance wasn´t even sure whether or not he just said this out loud. All he knew was, that this was an empty threat to himself.  
But I have to., said the voice in his mind. Absolutely determined. ,If there is nobody left who likes you, nobody who cares for you, nobody who wants you here, you have to leave.´

Lance shivered again at the thought. ,But what if I fail?´  
,You won´t.´ ,What happens when they find me?´  
,They will be glad. I promise.´  
And then, Lance stilled as one thought burned through the conversation. A single thought that turned his entire internal conversation upside down.

,But I don´t want to die.´

Lance stood up in surprise. His eyes widened, tears welling up inside him again. But this time they didn´t make sense. He wasn´t sobbing, he didn´t even feel the desire to.  
All he felt was confusion, relief, and anger.

,But you should.´, the other voice weakly responded. “But I don´t want to.”, Lance whispered, drowning out the other thought easily.  
,But they hate you.´   
,So do I.´

,They will be glad when you´re gone.´  
,If they truly hate me, why do I have to go for them? My life is not theirs, it´s my own. And I haven´t had the chance to shape it yet. If they hate me, why is that my problem? Why do I have to change for people who can´t even accept who I am?´

Lance stepped towards his window, opening it wide and staring outside into the sun that was still rising on the horizon.  
,But you hate yourself.´, the voice demanded.  
,But maybe, maybe, I can change that. I have to accept myself first, don´t I? How can I expect others to like me, when I can´t even like myself?´  
´But for that you need to change. And you know how that worked out so far.´  
´No. I was always trying to be someone else. I am still hiding who I am.   
I need this to end. I need to be whoever it is that I hate so much.´

And when Lance looked in the mirror this time, the giant one that belonged to the other version of himself. When he saw the Lance that he wasn´t in his reflection, he felt as though he saw himself for the very first time.  
He put his hand on the mirror, where it met his other self.

“I hate you.”, he said, but he felt how the malice had left his words. And he realized he didn´t say “I hate myself.”  
“But I can learn to accept you, if you let me.”  
At that, his reflection gave him a weak smile. And it was as though relief had flooded his entire system, drowning the voice that had warned him of everyone and everything before.  
He had listened to his own paranoia for far too long.  
It took him a while to notice the sound hat vibrated through his vocal chords.  
For the first time in years, he heard himself laughing. And it was the best feeling in the world.  
For the first time in forever, he felt free.

\----------------------------------------

“He´s laughing.”, Pidge stated after a while. Them and Keith were not alone in the kitchen anymore. Hunk and Shay had joined them, listening to Pidge explaining what Keith had done and trying to find out why he did it.  
While Keith himself couldn´t stop the regret that had bothered him for a couple of hours now.  
Lance had gone quiet for a solid two hours at least and Keith had been panicking inwardly ever since.

When they heard the laughter, his head perked up.   
“Now you´ve done it, Keith. He´s gone mad.”, they muttered, obviously disturbed.

“I´ll – I´ll check on him.”, Keith finally said, standing up in a hurried motion, almost causing the chair to fall over.

“Oh no, definitely not. Not after what you just did -”

“Let him try. I bet, if Lance doesn´t want to see him, he won´t let him in.”, Hunk calmed them down. “Fine.”, they finally complied, crossing their arms, disappointed in Hunk, apparently.

Keith, however, didn´t bother to listen anymore, as he knocked on Lance´s door. Or rather he tried to.  
A key was turned and one second later, the door was open. Keith stared at Lance in surprise.  
Lance looked back at him, equally startled, but there was a small smile on his face.  
“Keith, hey.”, he said, something painful in his voice.

“I – I just wanted to talk to you. About earlier, I-”  
“Thank you, Keith.”, Lance said, without letting him finish. Keith´s arm, still up to knock dropped to his side, as his eyes went wide. “What?”, he asked.  
Lance´s smile widened as he stepped forward and hugged him. “Thank you.”, he whispered in Keith´s ear, but Keith couldn´t focus on that.  
The grip was hesitant, but tight on him, until Lance finally let go. “I´m going outside a bit. Not – not far, don´t worry. Just – Fresh air.”

Keith noticed, only now, that Lance´s eyes were red from crying, his cheeks still stained by tears. His hair a mess as though he had pulled at him. The sleeves of his arms were up and you could still see where his hands had left blue prints from gripping them too tight and small, bloody wounds where his fingernails had left their marks.

And then, Lance went passed them, out the door, into the now midday light. His spine upright, instead of slouching, his face not hidden from his jacket, but held high, facing the sun.

Pidge and the others sat there, utterly confused.   
But Keith couldn´t stand there until his feet took roots in the ground, he hurried to follow this person.   
And for the first time, he actually felt that this was not Lance. 

\---------------------------------------------

Keith followed behind Lance, leaving a certain distance between them. All he wanted was to make sure Lance wasn´t alone right now.   
Because Lance´s mood swings in the past couple of days had been extreme. If not extremely confusing.  
The hell had Lance just thanked him for? What had happened inside that mind?   
He followed Lance for an hour. But they didn´t really get far, as Lance was strolling around mindlessly, carelessly, as he passed the juniberries and stopped here and there to pluck one out. Until he had a giant bouquet of flowers at his disposal.   
He held them tight, adding a few other flowers Keith didn´t know the name of to it.

It puzzled Keith. What was Lance doing?  
Was Pidge right after all and Lance was preparing to kill himself and already got the flowers for his funeral? Keith cursed at his mind. Why was that even a suggestion?

And then, as if in trance, Lance stood still in the middle of the field. He turned around, looking at Keith, who startled at the stare.  
Lance smiled at him with a little wave, but looked right behind him, as though he saw something else, as though he heard something.  
And then, he turned sideways, following something. His mind suddenly settled on something, as his steps weren´t careless anymore.

What Keith failed to understand in this moment, because he hadn´t felt it just yet, was that Lance had been called.  
A magnetic pulse of energy radiating from somewhere far off the field, where Allura´s head stone stood.  
Keith knew the way. But it was impossible for this version of Lance to know it.   
That was, because it wasn´t the head stone that had called Lance. It was something else that was waiting right there, where Allura had left her.

And the second, Keith realized that, he stood still, watching as Lance approached the headstone. He looked at the stone in thought, as though it confused him to see her name on it. Then, he put the flowers down.  
And then, then the growl disrupted the silence of the rattling flowers and bushes, as Blue approached them. Eyes glowing just as bright as Keith remembered upon first meeting her. She lowered her head then for a shaken Lance McClain who stared at her, as though she was the most beautiful thing he had ever encountered in his entire life.

She chose him, like she had chosen the other Lance. For the same reasons that the human mind couldn´t fully grasp.   
But she had chosen him again. For she was the first person to believe in him and the moment Lance had entered, Keith stood there, not knowing whether or not he should be happy or dazzled or confused or whatsoever.  
All he knew was that he was relieved. For auLance wasn´t as self destructive as he had believed.   
A moment later, blue disappeared into deep space.

\-------------------------

The following days were weird.   
Lance had reappeared that same evening, naturally. But nobody really knew what blue and him were doing in space. What she had shown him, what Lance had seen.  
All they knew was that Lance came back.   
His face was blank of emotion. He wasn´t really talked to either of them. He kept to himself, a bit similar to what he had done before. But he wasn´t lashing out at them anymore.  
He wasn´t taking their light teasing to heart either.   
He smiled at them politely, but he didn´t laugh as relieved as he had the day Keith had brought him to his breaking point. And certainly not as wholeheartedly as he did all these years ago.

But maybe it hadn´t been the flying, because Lance disappeared with blue at least once a day now.   
Perhaps, the transition wasn´t happening as suddenly, after all.  
Lance still needed time to understand where he was, to understand who he was.  
He was slowly accepting himself, but he wasn´t quite there yet.  
And Keith could see that, but he couldn´t help Lance with it. Lance wouldn´t want it and Keith wouldn´t know how.

Keith hated himself for missing the Lance of this world more and more. The one who had already figured all this out. The one who was self confident and kind and caring.  
The one with the amazing sharpshooter skills, the bright smile, the ridiculous humor. But that one was also broken a little, wasn´t he?

Keith didn´t know what to think anymore.   
Who was Lance? He felt like he had never known him before. And a shameful part of him was glad that he had met Lance so late in life. Because he knew he would not have been able to help him. The other version of him wasn´t able to. And he himself had proven that he wasn´t either.

He felt as though he was farther from Lance then he had ever been. At the same time, he felt like he had never understood more of Lance´s behavior than he did now.  
The confidence Lance always radiated – it had never been there to show off to others. It had never been there as a form of arrogance, but for Lance to convince himself that he could be proud of himself.

He could convince himself that he could do anything. Even if he failed.  
There was a reason why Iversion couldn´t break him. There was a reason why his words, his insults got to him, but also didn´t. Lance took them seriously, but it couldn´t bring him down, because he already knew all that and moved on.

Some time, Pidge had managed to send a message to her own alternate self. And to what Keith had understood, it had been quite the heated argument.   
Now they were preparing to convince Red and Black to accept their old paladins again. Red complied rather easily. Black however had his issues with Shiro. But Shiro got in after some time, too.

The last problem was probably to build Voltron. But in the state that their connection to auLance was right now -  
He was so distant, so far away. And Pidge had send a deadline to the other side.   
They had one more week to figure this out. 

What´s more, Keith didn´t know how to approach Lance anymore. Ever since the hug, Lance hadn´t talked to him.  
Instead, he had turned to Hunk and Pidge, and asked them if he could help with something. His voice was hoarse and his smile forced, but genuine.  
He looked frightened, rather than anything.  
Apparently, he wanted to feel helpful. Hunk and Pidge had looked at each other painfully, knowing that Lance couldn´t really be of help.

But Coran had offered him to help with the farm and then everything was settled. Though Lance seemed to sense that he wasn´t really needed and huffed in disappointment and maybe a little shame.

“He looked so sad.”, Pidge had complained later, as they sat in the kitchen, recalculating the time and place when they had to break through the reality barrier for the thousandth time. Just to be sure, of course. When she had figured it out exactly? Keith didn´t know.  
Hunk nodded at that, equally quiet. “Remembers me of the time we met – but it was – less intense, really. No wonder he was so down the entire time we were in space. Well – not the entire time -”, he shot a side glance at Keith.

“Yes, since Allura and Lotor got together, right?”, Keith asked. Because that was what he had assumed when he had returned from the blade and found a disturbed Lance at the front gates, accusing him of being his own older brother. Who didn´t exist, thank you very much.   
“What? No.”, Hunk looked at him incredulously. “He had been like that for far longer.”

“Since when, then?”  
“I´m not sure.”, Hunk admitted sadly.

“Need I remind you that this is not the Lance we went to war with?! This is a completely different Lance.  
From another universe! He doesn´t have those memories.   
He doesn´t know us and he is completely lost without purpose here. We need to get him back.”

“Like this?”, Keith asked. “In this shape of his own self? He said it himself, there is no one there in his own world. He would be just as lost there. But with less people actually caring.”

“What do you suggest? Leave him here and our Lance in his world, where he´d turn out just like that? Especially if we don´t even try to get him back?  
We can´t just leave our Lance there. And I doubt it´s good for any reality if one person exists twice. With Voltron we may be able to get in there for a while, but also not for long.”

“And how do we get them back into their right mind? Because last time I checked, this may not be our Lance, but it´s his body for sure.”

Pidge raised their eyebrows at him. “And when, pray tell, did you check that?”

“Omg, guys, I know!”, Hunk suddenly exclaimed, while Keith flushed at the implication. “He was this broken the day Keith left for the blade! “ Then, Hunk´s voice lowered in shock. “Holy crap and we left him alone the entire time.”

Pidge let her phone fall onto the table. “What?”, they asked, looking at Keith again, for answers he couldn´t possibly have.

“It all makes sense. When Keith left for the blade, Allura started hanging with Shiro, later with Lotor. You and I were constantly working on the castle, Coran was cleaning it, supervising us or doing who knows what with the mice – but Lance – he.”  
Hunk never finished his tale, as Pidge´s eyes widened. “He started training.”, she muttered. “On his own.”

\----------------------------

Keith decided to call his mom.   
They haven´t known each other for long, surely. But two years were a lot of time. Long enough to get used to her constant presence.

“Yeah, I know. It´s kinda complicated.”, Keith explained at the phone, while he stood outside.  
“No, no. Don´t worry, he seems kind of alright? I´m still worried, but – “  
He sighed, as he listened to her soothing voice.  
“No, I can´t come back just yet. We need to solve this first. Actually, I´d like to have you here. For moral support.”

“Moral support, eh?”, a voice interrupted his call and Keith turned around abruptly, phone almost dopping out of his hand.

“I´ll call you back later. Can you come here until tomorrow? - thanks.”  
He ended the call.

“Lance, what are you doing here?”, he asked. The slight breeze played with his hair, softly brushing it against his nose. Or, at least the few strays that weren´t part of his bun.

Lance had his hands in his pockets, a melancholic look in his eyes.  
“I was looking for you. Coran has dismissed me from duty, because apparently I have no talent in milking a cow. But what do I know? Who names a cow Kaltenecker anyway.”  
He chuckled slightly, barely looking at Keith.

The man in question waited for more, but no further explanation followed. So he sighed.  
“Well, for one, Kaltenecker is what the other alien species call cows. It´s a whole thing in the marketing business. Don´t ask me, Lance purchased a video game once with Pidge and got him for free.”

Lance blinked and grinned again. “I can imagine that.”  
There was another pause. Keith knew that Lance hadn´t quite understood, but he didn´t ask and he didn´t glare at him. So that was something, right?

“I- Lance, look. I wanted to apologize for – for what I said. I-”  
“Hold on.”, Lance looked at him confused. Truly, honestly and utterly confused. He approached him and put one hand on his shoulder.  
Keith gasped slightly.   
“You have nothing to apologize for, Keith. Actually, I came here, because I wanted to thank you.”, he said earnestly, glad, thankful.

Keith blinked, irritated for a second by the nostalgic feeling he got while he looked at Lance. He still seemed so much younger, so unknowing and childish.  
But Keith recognized this step by heart. Lance was backing away to support him.   
For a mere second, Keith almost forgot who this person truly was, if it wasn´t for this look. Like he didn´t truly recognize Keith for whom he was, instead. This look was what kept Keith sane in this moment.

“You wanted to thank me? For what.”

“For – for what you said. I can´t explain it just yet, but I really, desperately needed to hear that. And I know you didn´t mean it. I could hear that. It doesn´t matter though.  
Just – thanks.”

Keith looked up at Lance. He hadn´t done that in quite a while.

“I will miss this place.”, Lance said, looking around, pointing at the flowers that painted the landscape.

“You will?”, Keith asked again, earning another sad smile from Lance.

“Yes. I think I will. I haven´t felt this good in years. I don´t know what got me here, but I´d like to thank whoever is responsible. However, I know I cannot stay forever. I need to get back to class. I have a responsibility to be better in my own world.  
I will be, I know it. This time, I will make things right.”

“How?”, Keith asked, not knowing what lay beneath these eyes.  
“Just – I think I´ll take some time of to take care of myself. The blue lion has been very kind to me. I´ll do my best to manage without her. And without you.”  
He looked at Keith as though for the first time, he saw a friend.

“Yeah. Er-”, Keith tried to grasp for straws now.  
“Maybe, we could still stay in contact? Pidge has found a way to contact her other self at least. Maybe we could do the same?”

Lance smiled. “I´m not certain that´s possible, but it would be nice, for sure.”

“What are you going to do, when you meet the others in your world again?”, Keith asked, unsure whether or not he should ask at all.

“I guess, I´ll first apologize to Hunk for being rude to him. Maybe I´ll try talking to the other you. I´ve got this feeling you are a lot more similar than I first expected. There really aren´t any more people I´m in contact with. By the way, where are my parents anyway in this world? I haven´t seen them for a while now.”

“Oh, they aren´t far away. The other You told them to take a vacation in Cuba, where you´re from, so – well. That´s why I sent Kosmo for him. So you wouldn´t be all alone.”

“And to spy on him, I know.”, Lance laughed a little. “I get it now. I think. I would have done the same for you, if I ever had the chance.  
Anyway, weird story. Kosmo doesn´t – hate me anymore?  
Just two days ago, he slept in my room. That was crazy. I have no idea what´s going on in his mind. I haven´t even done anything.”

“No, you have.”, Keith winced at himself.  
“What? No I can´t have. I´ve only just begun.”  
“You´ve changed a lot.”, Keith persisted, head nodding at Lance once more.  
“What´s more. You´ve done that all by yourself, you´ve been really strong.”

“No I don´t think so. My misery was created by myself and my own stubbornness. I´ve talked myself into this. It´s never been that serious.”, he said, painfully.

“It was true to you. So it´s valid enough.”, Keith insisted, smiling awkwardly at Lance. He smiled in return.

Lance let the arm go from Keith´s shoulder, as he smirked a little. “You know, Keith. I´ve noticed you care a lot about me. Which makes me wonder, how much do you really care for the other me? The one you actually know?”  
Lance was grinning at him so playfully, Keith couldn´t help it. He wanted to wipe it from his face.  
“I´m in love with him, isn´t that obvious.”, he admitted, watching as his intentions bared fruit and Lance´s smile fell, as his eyes widened in surprise.

“What?”, he gaped, not even backing away. 

“Yeah. It´s not that hard to admit really.”  
“But he likes Allura. You yourself told me that.”

“I know that. And I accept it. That´s not going to change my feelings for him.”

“But, how do you know he´ll return your feelings?” Lance wondered, flabbergasted.

“What? No of course he won´t. He´s always been pining after girls, and with Allura giving him her marks, he´s pretty much sworn himself off the market. But that´s besides the point. I love him. That doesn´t mean I´m waiting for him to change his mind.  
I can love him without wanting anything in return, can I? All I want is to be his friend.”

Lance went quiet at that, until he answered again.  
“Does he know?”

“I´m sure he´d feel bad if he did. And he really shouldn´t. I´m happy the way it is.”

“What would you do, if he would return your feelings?”

Keith thought about that for a moment. “I – I don´t think I ever thought about that. I don´t know. Figure it out as we go?”

Lance looked at him in amazement.   
“I can see him loving you back.”, he finally said, causing Keith to stare at him.  
“What?”

“I´m just saying – maybe you shouldn´t let your hopes down too soon. I mean – He´d be an idiot if he didn´t”

“You do realize, this sounds actually possible, with you saying that, right? I mean, you´re him, in a way.”, Keith pointed out. “And you of all people should know exactly what Lance likes and what he doesn´t.”

“Yes.”, Lance answered simply, blinking in confusion.

“You do realize, I´m not your type. I mean, for both of you. I´m – I dunno, I´m a guy for one.”

“Yes?”, Lance answered again.

“And I´m black haired, not blond, like Allura – I mean.”

“You don´t need to compare yourself to Allura, you know. I for one, am definitely over her. She´s pretty and kind, sure. But she´s perfectly happy with Lotor in my world and I have this feeling that that´s what´s supposed to be.  
It sucked at first, but it´s been alright for a couple of month´s already. Even if Hunk still teases me about it.   
You´re a great guy. With time, I´m sure he´ll come around. He´d be an idiot if he didn´t.”, Lance said, scratching his neck.

Keith stared at him.  
“I´m still a guy though.”

“I know.”, Lance blinked. “So is he. And you like him still.”

“Are you sure, you – I mean – the other you could actually like me back?”, Keith felt hopeful. He was afraid of hope.   
“Never been more certain.”, Lance smiled, encouragingly. Keith felt his hear beating faster, his mind still unsure, but determined now.

“So -”, Keith grinned back now. “You wanna tell me something about the other Keith?”

Lance smiled. “I don´t know yet. I guess, I´ll figure it out as I go.”, he admitted and Keith felt himself staring at the confused little smile on this familiar face. A giddy feeling guiding his grin.

\------------------------------------------

“You could have told me your mom is mother freaking Krolia!”, au Lance hissed, right before their departure.  
The lions where waiting for them to come together, as the passengers went on board.

“Why, is she special in your world?”

“YES! She single-handedly turned a whole terrorist attack upside down and practically saved the world! I cannot believe it.”  
Lance was jumping around carelessly now. Like a child who was promised an extra Christmas gift.  
It was nice seeing him in high spirits once again.

Krolia laughed. “Well, in this one I´m part Galra and part of the rebel forces, so that´s actually quite fitting. Nice to know I´m such a great person in your world.”

Keith smiled at them. He felt relieved, hopeful for the future and excited to see his best friend again.   
He still didn´t know how to tell him later. But he´d approach that problem when he´d face it.

“You think, we can build Voltron like this?”, Hunk asked, slightly worried about their formation.

“Don´t worry, Hunk, we´re a team now, remember?”, Lance chattily replied. This time through the coms, as Blue had swallowed him whole already, her eyes glowing as she departed. 

“You heard the man. We´re a team. We´ll get this.”, Shiro replied, dadly. Like usual. 

“I´m sure, he´s right. Well, guys. We´re heading towards Marmora of Lance´s world now. Be prepared. We don´t know how they´re going to greet us.”, Pidge reminded them, green already in air as well.

The others followed close behind.

“Don´t worry, it´ll be fine, I´m sure. Our Lance is waiting, after all. Let´s form Voltron!”, Keith shouted. And well. You already know the rest.


	3. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a lot shorter than the others were. (Again). But I found it important to include only the important bits. (Also I was lazy, whatever)  
This one revolves around the changes of Lance and his perspective on himself. Only that it´s probably hard to see all the struggles that this actually inquires. Which is why most of it is written in Keith´s perspective.   
This aftermath is just the beginning for auLance, while in the original universe, the struggles and problems have finally come to an end. (It´s the first bit, I promise fluff D:)  
Also, I may have to apologize, I do like Allurance as a ship and all. But the way it was portrayed in the show was horrible. And I honestly couldn´t imagine how to portray them correctly in here. I just - couldn´t kill of Loturance either and I think it was only right for Lance to move on in both worlds. If auLance had ended up with auAllura, I don´t think I could have written the fluff in the original universe.   
Also, I know auLance sounds very romantic in this chapter. But I must inform you, that he isn´t ready for a relationship just yet. It´ll take sometime until he finds and trusts himself to love someone else. It´s what he wants. A goal he´s setting for himself. What hes hoping for in the future. So, auKlance isn´t quite canon at the end. But hey, they´re young, they´ll get there eventually. it´s implied at least.

Original universe: -Fluff warning-

Lance woke up in Keith´s arms. The were home.   
He blinked at the sun that illuminated his face, the white clouds, softly hanging in the air. The scent of juniberries filled his nose and made him catch his breath.  
Lance needed a second to recognize the steady heartbeat right next to his shoulder. And then he looked at Keith´s smile, directed at him.  
The surroundings forgotten, he let his hand trace the other man´s left cheek. The scar was weirdly distracting. He hadn´t seen that one in quite a while.

Keith grabbed for his hand, stopping his movement, but he kept holding it. An irritated look in his eyes. Full of uncertainty, gathering of courage and hope.  
Lance just returned the smile, not moving a muscle. For the first time in weeks, he felt like he was truly home. Where he truly belonged.  
Which was kind of odd, considering he hadn´t missed his house or the fields, or the work or the cows. Not to mention it wasn´t that different on the other side.  
But he had missed Keith. This was where he belonged. 

“Your marks are gone.”, Keith shyly said, just as gone in the moment as Lance was.  
Lance grabbed for his face with his free hand, even though he wouldn´t be able to feel them.   
“They are?”, he asked, curious, but trusting in Keith, who only nodded, as he bit his bottom lip.

And Lance felt – relieved.  
He chuckled, as he started laughing, happy with giddiness. Allura had been right. He had been trying so hard to get her out of his head, he hadn´t realized, he had already moved on. His focus on this attempt being the only thing that made him remember her all day.  
He couldn´t remember when he had started to move on, but with his mindset freed from the marks, it was clear that he had.   
“Thank god.”, he muttered, noticing the confusion in Keith´s eyes at his words.

Someone coughed, causing them to look up. A motion that was surprisingly mild for their situation. Lance didn´t have it in him to jump away from Keith. This was where he belonged. Witnesses could mind their own business. He wouldn´t jump aside for the simple means of appearances.

“We´ll, erm – we´ll leave you two alone for now.”, Krolia said, nodding at her son. The others, still confused and irritated at the sudden appearance of Allura and the following return right after, avoided their eyes, already heading towards Lance´s house.

Keith opened his mouth to respond, but it was Lance who answered.  
“Sure, go ahead. Don´t wait for us.”, he said, not letting go of Keith. Only now noticing that they were practically sitting on the field of juniberries. Him in Keith´s arms, while Keith was kneeling beside him.

Krolia showed him a thumbs up and followed the paladins towards the house, Kosmo was stumbling around the fields, already jumping for a white butterfly. Happy to be back in his own body. He was teleporting between the flowers, while Krolia´s back disappeared in the distance.

Neither Keith nor Lance said anything for a while, until Lance sat up a bit more. Keith let him go at the sudden motion.  
“No.”, Lance instantly said, grabbing for Keith´s arm. The man in question froze mid motion.   
“Stay here.”, Lance said, sitting up even more and snuggling closer into Keith´s side. All his worry´s, all his doubts ignored.   
He had waited forever for this. Not certain whether or not he would ever return to this universe, though his hopes in Pidge had kept him going. 

He would only leave Keith´s side, if the man would push him away. But Keith didn´t. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Lance, hesitant and hyper aware of his actions.

Lance smiled, but lay there quiet once more.

Only the increasing breathing of Keith calming him in a way, nothing else did.  
“I´m glad to be back.”, Lance admitted, looking into these purple eyes. They looked at him in return, growing more and more self conscious.  
“Was it that bad in the other reality?”, Keith asked, wording his sentence carefully.

“I´ve missed you.”, Lance responded instead of an actual explanation, with so much heartfelt honesty that Keith wanted to turn around but hug him even closer at the very same time. 

“We missed you, too.”, Keith responded, his heart rate quickening at his self doubt, but Lance only laughed.  
“I mean, I did miss all of you, but Keith, honestly. I mean you. And you especially. I´ve missed YOU.”, he poked into Keith´s chest, who held his breath for a moment.

“I missed you too.”, Keith stuttered, as he finally remembered to breathe, but he didn´t allow himself to read too much into this just yet. Lance was always like this. Making him feel special, only to turn around say the same things to Hunk and Pidge and whomever else he could find.

Lance sighed.   
“Man, seriously, I beg of you. Can you please stop pretend like this is a #no homo, we´re just friends situation for one god damn second? I´ve been stuck with a version of you who hated me at first and then kept doubting each and every choice I ever made in that reality.   
You and I are long passed that.  
I freaking missed the you who treats me as an equal. Who comes bye at least one a month to check on me, who leaves tracking devices and his dog around so you´d be alarmed if something happened.  
The you who is a negotiator who would stab his conversation partner, if he used the false tone.   
The you who punched Iversion in the face, the you who keeps challenging me. Who gives me a reason to stand up in the morning. If only to listen to one lame insult after the other.  
Our leader who never wanted the title, my best friend. The you who loves me, despite everything that happened.”

Keith´s eyes went wide, as the words hit him with full force.

Lance smiled, softly pushing Keith´s arm away and framed his scared cheek once more. This time succeeding.  
“You know, Keith. You´re not as subtle as you think. You look at me like I´m the world. Or the only thing that truly matters to you.   
I´m sorry, I haven´t been ready to say anything up until now, with Allura attached to my face and everything.”, he chuckled at his own joke. 

Keith leaned his face against Lance´s hand in hope, in worry and confusion and fear and whatever else he felt.  
“But you know – I think I´ve been on this planet for like an eternity now. I would like to explore the universe again. And if possible, I´d like to have my boyfriend at my side.”

Keith´s eyes widened once more. His mouth opening a gap as his mind tried to process what was happening.  
“Your boyfriend?”, he asked, his mind quitting the attempt altogether.

“I´m referring to you, you idiot.”, Lance rolled his eyes. But Keith still didn´t respond.   
Lance sighed, as he sat up once more, coming impossibly close to Keith who still stared at him in frozen shock.   
And then, Lance simply kissed him. Softly at first, as he felt the warmth radiating from Keith, who desperately tried to regain his thoughts.   
Lance smiled in triumph as Keith hesitantly returned the kiss, closing his eyes while doing so.

“Wait – you mean, you want abandon this place?”, he finally broke the kiss, as his brain started working again. He was giddy with happiness, but still slow on the update.

“I think the only thing I have abandoned was me.”  
“You mean – your happiness?”, Keith felt weirdly reminded of auLance at the sentence and almost bit his lip at the thought.

Lance smiled. “If I had abandoned my happiness, I doubt you´d be sitting here with me right now.”  
Keith, taken aback, kept looking at Lance strangely.  
“I love you.”, Lance emphasized. And finally, finally Keith got the message. He was Lance´s happiness. Lance loved him. He meant it.  
Keith eyes wandered over Lance´s face. For the first time noticing the fondness in those blue eyes. Finally recognizing the smile that was only ever directed at him.  
The one that didn´t look forced or tired or exhausted. The one he hadn´t even seen directed at Allura when she was still alive, in the short time they had been together.  
Admittedly, they had been in the middle of their last war, with the entire multiverse at stake and all, so there was barely any time for that. Still – he couldn´t help but feel special about this.  
The smile was one full of happiness, full of trust and believe and honesty and Keith felt his insides melt at the sight,  
“I love you too.”, he said. And well, maybe he cried a bit.

\------------------------------------

AU – universe

“I think you hate yourself more than any of us ever could. And I think it´s time you show us a version of yourself that isn´t made up.”

Lance didn´t go to school again for two weeks. In fact, nobody had seen him since the school trip. The rumors had slowly died down, even though they were still present.  
Keith and the other paladins were questioned almost daily. And – yes – paladins was the nickname they were given by who knows whom, after someone had leaked the entire scene on Youtube.  
They were also color coded. Saying that, it had gotten quite the ruckus. Even though many people claimed the video was edited or fake.

And Allura, who had only heard about all of this through the rumors, didn´t know which way to turn. Many questions directed at her. They called her princess, or the entity. She was so uncomfortable with all this it was almost funny.  
The weirdest part was that the people hung up about this the most, were the ones who had never been there. Or only heard about the video. It was a running gag at some point. A meme. Nothing more.

Keith had gotten the worst of it, to be fair.  
He had hung out with the other Lance for a couple of weeks, being asked if he had believed Lance before. Especially since Keith had not denied the truth, but supported it. People thought he was an idiot now who got fooled by Lance and whoever made the video. Keith avoided people after that. Even more so than he usually did. 

But at day 17 of Lance not coming to school, he´s had enough.  
He needed to close this chapter for himself. He needed to understand where Lance had been, if he was alright.   
After how the reunion looked like between their alternate selves, he couldn´t stop thinking about how distant auLance and him were. It bothered him, somehow. And the worry, he wouldn´t admit he felt, kept piling up in his mind.  
So he decided to skip school as well, said goodbye to Shiro who was just heading for work and approached the house he had never visited before.

Standing in front of a house of strangers, of people you never talk to or just became friends with, with the intention of ringing, always felt weird. A nervous ticking in the back of his mind, reminding him that he shouldn´t be here.  
He wasn´t friends with Lance. At least not this version of him. Was he friends with the other one? Well, Keith has had friends he´d been less close with, so yeah. He would count them as such.   
However, it didn´t look like anyone was home. The windows were dark, no cars parked in front of the house.

Keith rang anyway. The bell was a high sound. So shrilling it must be waking everyone up in this house, in case they were actually sleeping. Maybe his parents were at work? What about his siblings? Lance was the youngest, did the others go to school? To work? What shift were they on?

It took about two minutes, which felt like years, for someone to open the door.  
It was a girl, looking tired in her pajama. Her glasses looked as though she had just put them on, all vertical on her face. Her hair was sticking out all around them.

“Keith? Kogane? What do you want here?”, she asked, but didn´t sound too surprised. Maybe the fact that Lance had been behaving all weird and odd for a couple of weeks, maybe months had made her immune to strange phenomenons.

“Yes, you must be Veronica? Is Lance here? I need to talk to him.”

Veronica looked at him suspiciously. “He´s probably outside.”, she said, as though that explained anything, as she gestured him inside.  
“What do you mean, he´s ouside? It´s seven am!”

“I know. Tell him that. He hasn´t gone to sleep yet. I mean, he stood up long before, but now...  
It´s getting out of hand. It´s concerning, really. I have no idea what he´s doing and he won´t explain.  
Ever since you guys came back from that school trip he seems traumatized and lonely and I honestly have no idea what the fuck he´s doing anymore.  
When he came back and went into his room, he started laughing at first and cried right after. Then he threw everything through his room and spend two entire days of cleaning it up again. He threw away so much stuff... He even gave me his switch. It´s – urgh. It´s been some awkward two weeks. I´d be glad if you talked to him.”, she was talking so fast and so tiredly slow at the same time, Keith had trouble following.

This new information lacking behind in being processed. He simply nodded with a grunt, as she lead him through a small kitchen, passed the kitchenette and through a glass door.   
The backyard of the McClain household was a small garden, pots with different kind of flowers framed the surroundings. A fresh painted swing set stood in the middle of it all, right in front of a terrace. Keith could see bushes and a giant barrel of rain water. Giant trees, random cats passing through, and so on and so forth.  
What he saw last was the young man, sitting on a bluish gray blanket in the middle of the grass field, a guitar in hand. 

It was then that he heard the door behind him clack shut, while Veronica went back to her room.  
There was no turning back now. 

A soft melody washed over his worries and he recognized the sound, but he couldn´t quite place the song. Maybe, because most songs were based on the same four chords. 

And then he heard Lance sing. It wasn´t a song Keith knew, he realized now. But Lance was smiling softly, painfully. Keith couldn´t quite understand the words, but he heard the soft rasping in his voice, his struggle to find the right chords, while stumbling over his own words. 

Keith saw that Lance was looking at a notepad for this, writing down something from time to time. And then it hit him that Lance must have written this song by himself.   
Keith slowly approached. 

“There is nothing left to say.”, Lance´s voice grew louder, stopping Keith right in the middle of his walk. This must be the refrain. The one thing that falls easy from your lips when you sing.  
“This is the price I had to pay.”, he went on.  
“For all the reckless choices I´ve made,  
is it alright for me to fade.  
Fade away – fade away – fade away.”  
And suddenly his voice went higher, more confident, more passionate and more into the song and it caught Keith´s breath away.  
“Finally I´ve made my choice.   
I´m gonna follow this eminent voice,  
inside my heart and head  
instead  
and try again, try again...”

And then Lance stopped, abruptly, as though he hadn´t been in the middle of a song just now. He looked down on the paper once more, mouthing something for himself and writing it down. Muttering “god that sounds pathetic.”   
Just as he picked up his guitar again, Keith coughed awkwardly, startling Lance so much, he let his guitar fall. His guitar, angry about the rough landing, clanked a little, the strings vibrating and creating a sound that almost had to do with music.

“Holy crap, Mullet, what are you doing -”, he shouted angrily and - he stopped himself, hurrying to hide his notepad.  
He stood up, brushing of his jeans in an awkward motion, looking everywhere but at Keith.  
And then – he sighed, visibly shaking of his anger.  
He closed his eyes, bracing himself, as he finally looked up at Keith, eyes peering directly into his and well -  
if that wasn´t new.   
Lance always – always avoided Keith´s gaze. This Lance did, at the very least.  
Except that now he didn´t.

“Hi, Keith.”, Lance said. “You, erm- probably want to talk about whatever happened with that other Lance, right?  
Let´s go inside. You want to drink something? Tea, juice? Coffee?”

Keith stared up at him for a moment before he answered. His mind rushing multiple questions with obvious or unimportant answers ahead.  
“I think, sitting here would be fine. It´s obviously more private, if you can play the guitar here without getting heard.” 

“Well – you heard me. That´s about as private as it gets, huh?”, Lance chuckled, uncomfortably.  
Keith sat down, if only to make a point.  
A little surprised, Lance sat down as well. A little less careless, but never the less.

“So... you´re right. I´m here to talk about the other Lance and the other world, if we´re already at it. But you don´t have to worry. The other Lance wasn´t noisy or anything. I don´t think he destroyed any of your reputation, in fact I think he leveled it up somehow. In fact, I don´t think there was anyone who didn´t get along with -”, Keith stopped in the middle of his rant, as Lance avoided his gaze again.

“Yeah, I figured as much.”, Lance said and sighed. But he didn´t smile, he didn´t grin and play it of as a joke like he used to. His mind wandered elsewhere, not bothering to show how this news hurt him rather than anything.  
“I´m guessing he was a lot smarter than me, too? Better at sports?”

“Erm – I never saw him at sports. With his ankle all bundled up.”

Lance looked up at him, than at his foot, as he pulled up the fabric of his trousers. A nasty wound was showing, red around the crust that layered it as protection.  
“Right, I forgot Kosmo bit me.”, he mumbled. 

“But you´re right. He was a lot smarter than you.”, Keith fidgeted with his hands, unsure if this was the right thing to say.   
Lance huffed, disappointed, but Keith wasn´t done.  
“He was also smarter than Hunk, you know. He fixed my bike.”, he explained, causing Lance to glance up at him in disbelieve.

“He was nice, but I feel like the version of him we saw was the result of constant bullying, depression and a giant multiverse world war. Like – what the hell. I wouldn´t wish that for my worst enemy.”  
Lance´s mouth opened, but settled on an awkward smile instead. 

“Lance, look. I don´t know what happened to you in that other world. I don´t know why you think you cannot go to school anymore. And I know we haven´t really gotten along lately. But I know you wouldn´t stay home, if this wasn´t serious.  
I just wanted to check on you.”, Keith finally said and it felt like this was everything he had to say. But now? Now Lance was laughing. Really, truly and utterly laughing. A sight that Keith had never seen on him and made him wonder if this truly was the Lance who had disappeared a couple of weeks ago.  
“What´s so funny?”, he muttered, slightly defensive.

“Nothing – just – What kind of person was that other Lance that suddenly people seem to care? Especially you!”, he said, not realizing how his word choice sounded.

“What do you -”

“Keith, I´m fine. Really. I´ve never felt better.”, and it was the truth. Keith could see it. He could see the honesty in Lance´s eyes and it felt like an ice pickle in his heart. Not at the honesty itself – but the context it revealed.   
The pain that went along with it.

“Lance, i´ve always cared. I may not have liked you much, but that doesn´t mean that I would have wanted to hurt you.”, Keith insisted. He meant it. He truly did.

Lance´s eyes blinked as the sunlight reflected in them for a second, it was impossible to say what he was thinking right now.  
“I know you did.”, he said, looking into the distance again. 

Keith sighed in relieve.  
“But you were shit at showing it.”, Lance said.  
Keith tensed again.   
“And so was I.”, Lance added. 

Lance sighed, as he noticed the confused expression on Keith´s face.   
“Believe me, Keith. On the other side – I´ve – I´ve realized a lot of things about myself. I´ve been an idiot. A pathetic, stupid, selfish idiot.”, He emphasized every word just to test out, how much they could still hurt him.  
“And I´ve realized that you´re right. I´ve been trying so hard to be someone I´m not, that I even covered my mirror, just so I didn´t have to see myself.   
I´ve been trying to be someone I thought others would like or at least pay attention to and you know what? I think they did. But I can´t keep being that person. It fucks me up big time.  
I know you probably want to ask why I´m still at home then, right? I think I need some time to get used to this thing.”, he made a wide gesture around himself.  
“I´m going to do some stupid stuff that really embarrasses me but that I like doing and talk out my feelings with myself before coming back. Maybe I´ll be too far behind in school to make up for it, but well. Repeating a year won´t kill me, right?”, he said, taking a deep breath.  
With each word, he seemed to be feeling a little better, actually. 

Keith rubbed his hands, fidgety as he was.  
He wanted to tell Lance he was wrong. That Lance shouldn´t try so hard at being someone (else), that Lance´s attempt had been utterly ridiculous. But was it really?  
Would it be right to say something so hurtful to Lance when he was being so openly vulnerable in front of him. When he showed that he actually knew and actually accepted it?  
There was nothing Keith could say that Lance didn´t already think himself or would believe is a lie otherwise, so he decided to say what he really felt about this.

“Thank you for trusting me.”  
Apparently it was the right thing to say, as Lance mouth spread into a nice smile.   
“You know – on the other side I figured, if there was anyone here I could trust, it would be you.”  
With that, Lance stood up, brushing of the pollen from his knees, as he breathed in the chill morning air.  
“Come now. I think you need to go to school and I really need some sleep.”, Lance stifled a not faked yawn.

“Er – sure. If you don´t mind me asking – why are you awake all night? - Veronica told me by the way.”  
Lance laughed again.   
“Yeah, that´s kinda embarrassing. I kinda want to be close to the stars, you know? I mean – two weeks ago I was piloting a space ship through the universe. I may actually tell you about Plaxum. The blue lion convinced me to visit an actual mermaid planet. You wouldn´t believe -”  
And then Lance laughed even more. “Right, you won´t believe it- “

“I´d like to hear it, anyway. “, Keith said, after a second of thinking.   
Lance´s laughter died in his throat. “You would?”

“I always liked your stories. Also, about that catching up with school work – I could help you with that, if you want.”, he added, honest, but still uncertain.   
Lance blinked at him for a second. Then he smiled. Gently and kind and wow – Keith was not prepared for that.   
“I´d like that.”

Keith didn´t go to school that day.   
He went straight home. Slowly, and confused, as he tried to process what had just happened.   
His intentions had been to confront Lance about everything – not have a heart to heart. Also – Lance seemed so much more calm and collected. Even though he still wasn´t alright yet. And that was the part that bothered him the most.   
Lance wasn´t alright yet. But he had never looked this at ease. Never looked this alright in years.  
So Keith stared at the ceiling in his bedroom, after he let himself fall onto his bed once more.   
He stayed there for hours. His mind circling around the same answerless questions.   
And the same face.

\------------------

One week later and Lance still hadn´t returned to school yet. However, Keith had. Showered by questions of both Hunk and Pidge, who somehow knew that he had visited Lance before, he decided to bring a few textbooks and head over to Lance´s house again. After school this time.   
He didn´t know what he could do to help Lance get himself back together, but maybe helping him with schoolwork would ease some of his worries. 

Actually, when he turned up at Lance´s house that day and Veronica, dressed for work, threw the boy out of his bed, Lance seemed to be confused, but surprisingly happy to see Keith.

“Thanks for coming, by the way.”, he said, as soon as he had dressed himself and spread their textbooks over the table in Lance´s room.  
The room, surprisingly clean and empty was quite huge. Light colors of blue decorated the white wall, darkened over the years. The window was wide open, letting in some fresh air that smelled suspiciously like flowers.   
It was almost strong enough to bury the scent that was McClain, uniquely Lance. It´s the kind of thing you´re always faced with when you visit some friends you haven´t seen in month´s.

“Well – I can´t sit by and watch you fail every class, can I?”  
“Of course you could.”, Lance chuckled, but smiled anyway.  
“By the way – how are Hunk and the others?”, he asked, nonchalant as though he didn´t care but actually cared a lot.

“Him and Pidge are asking me everyday when you´d come back.”, Keith answered, causing Lance to let his pen fall down. 

“They – they do?”, he asked, unable to hide his smile. Honestly and truly amazed by this obvious information. Until something darkened his smile. - Right – Lance thought. -they were hanging out with the other Lance as well.-

“Yeah. You know. I was wondering, whether or not you and Hunk must have had a fight before you – well before the other Lance happened. Hunk was avoiding him and Pidge was so fidgety and scared for her identity, it was maddening.   
But maybe he sensed it? I mean – Hunk told me something were off about the other you and I mean, I got that of course... but … are you crying?”

It was true, Lance´s eyes had filled with tears, as he tried to hide his smile. Hastily he wiped them away. “Yeah – no. I just – didn´t expect that. Hunk is awesome.”, he muttered as a reply. 

Keith looked away. This was so much more awkward then he thought.

Lance shook his head. “The Hunk on the other side – he was similar. He stared at me almost warily. It was so weird. It´s like being a bird watched by a zoologist.”, he explained, already wrinkling his face in concentration at the next math question.  
“Which reminds me. The other you was very – very concerned about me, despite knowing.”, he raised his head, locking eyes with Keith now, who felt very much put on the spot.

“Well – I can imagine that.”, Keith said uncertainly.   
“Really?”, Lance asked in surprise, hopeful perhaps.   
“Yeah... I mean, the other Lance was talking about the other me very – fondly?”, he flushed a little, not really knowing what to say.   
“And he kept looking at me like I´m the younger brother of his -”, Keith stopped himself, trying to keep these thoughts away, but he knew he had to answer eventually. So he opened his mouth, unsure what to say, when Lance finished his sentence for him.  
“boyfriend?”, he asked, weirdly calm at the word.

Keith blushed. He couldn´t help it. This was so freaking weird. 

“Yeah.”, he nodded, looking away again.”  
Lance stared into the air for a second, tapping his pen against the table.   
“Yeah – well. I mean – the other you did confess his love to the other Lance to me, so that doesn´t seem far off.”

Keith blinked, eyes widening in surprise and embarrassment. “He what?”  
“Yeah. I´m taking your response meant the other me wasn´t very clear on the subject?”

Keith shook his head, faster than ever.  
“Of course he didn´t. But – You know. For someone who claimed to be in love with Allura – he seemed very much – not distracted by our version of her? In fact, he seemed as though he felt trapped.”

“Yeah – duh. The other you told me how she died. I mean, how fucked up is that? Giving her boyfriend her magic marks as a sign that she will always love him?   
Of course it would be impossible for him to move on. Allura is awesome, sure and I can only imagine how much more awesome she must have been in a world where she lead the war against an evil empire – but this?  
Honestly – I felt that – the Keith of the other world deserved the man they described to me much more. They´ve come such a long way together.  
Blue – I mean the blue lion has shown me images of their past together. And I felt like Keith was the only person he was on the same page with. They were equals, fighting back to back and all that jazz.   
I always wanted to find true love. And finding true love is about finding your best friend. What they have is exactly what I always imagined it to be like. But I came to believe it would always be a fantasy. And now-”, Lance stopped himself, as he realized what he was saying.

But Keith looked at him with wide eyes, a bit of confusion mixed in the amazement.  
“So you´re okay with that?”

Lance´s head turned up in confusion. I mixture of irritation, wonder, curiosity and the weird sense of – am I understanding him correctly? - washing over him.  
“What do you mean?”

“You know. First of all – remember when you talked shit about Shiro and Adam and told me it´s weird when two guys live together and stuff -  
but now that it´s them it´s suddenly okay?  
Which brings me to my second point: Them is actually you and me – only older.... You do realize that you´re practically talking about us here, right?”

Lance considered this for a second, until he answered.  
“I didn´t mean to talk shit about Adam and Shiro. I never knew they were actually together, you know?  
I thought it was weird for two friends to move in together – as in – you could see the pining all over your house. When I realized that, moreover when I found out on the other side they used to be engaged, I understood that my jokes haven´t been as funny as I thought they were, so I apologize for that.  
About the other thing – those are you and I in a different universe. We´re not the same people, right.”

Keith took it in. And considered – and wondered. And wondered even more. But he couldn´t come to a conclusion he found satisfying enough.  
“I´m not so sure. You guys weren´t – that – different. And I´m sure I wasn´t either.”, he finally settled on saying.

Lance, strangely, smiled at him. The smile turned into a grin.  
“So you´re saying, you´d be okay with us – you know -”  
Keith actually slapped him with the math book. It was a reflex. He hadn´t meant to do it, his own reaction taking him by surprise. 

“No, you idiot! You were the one implying we´d be a good couple.”, he frowned, unsure whether or not to apologize, when Lance winced in pain.  
But he started laughing anyway.  
“Maybe in the future.”, Lance said, lacking every sense of irony in his voice.  
Keith blushed even further. Unsure, whether or not this was actually happening. Lance was flirting with him – but genuine. Or was he being sarcastic after all. 

“Anyway.”, Keith coughed, hoping the noise was enough to get them back to the topic. “You wanted some help with math, right?  
How about we actually learn for now.” So that´s what they did. And if they jabbed a stupid comment here and there, it was a start, right?

\---------------------------

Lance hadn´t come to school for precisely two month´s.   
So Keith went over to his house after school to teach him what he needed to know. Oddly enough, Lance wasn´t as incompetent as he seemed at first.  
He had been really frustrated at first, when he didn´t get stuff done and been angry in between. But as soon as he got something right – there was no stopping him.  
He caught up with the stuff he lacked behind in no time. Lance was so passionate about learning, about understanding his mistakes that Keith had to force him to take breaks.  
Eventually he would have to bribe him to eat ice cream or snacks or whatever to cool his determination.

On Keith´s part, it made him focus more in class, so it would be easier for him to explain to Lance what he needed to know.  
He could imagine what Lance would ask and when he didn´t know the answer, he would ask his teachers in class.  
It was ridiculous how much both of them improved.

And then -  
One day Keith came to school, trying to ignore the loud babbling, the rumbling and rumors. The spreading of lies and destructive secrets.  
He passed through the crowds, only now noticing that they were circling a certain someone. Someone who´s backside he could see, but who didn´t seem quite comfortable in the situation.

“Lance?”, Keith gasped, as he recognized the wild gesturing, the startled movement in the other boys backbones as someone was approaching him.  
Silence quieted the place almost immediately, as Lance turned around, eyes widening in surprise. And then he relaxed at the sight. A small, relieved smiled directed at Keith who felt the stares creeping up his neck, but couldn´t bring himself to care. Because Lance was back.  
“You´re here!”, Keith´s eyes lit up.  
“You idiot, you could have told me!”, he snapped at Lance, boxing him in the shoulder in a joking way.

Lance rubbed the spot immediately, but grinned from ear to ear.  
“Yeah, my aunt convinced me. She was mad I didn´t go for so long. She gave me her car! Can you believe it? It´s mine now. It´s a rusty old thing, but man.”

“Amazing. It´s good to see you, Lance.”, Keith insisted, patting his shoulder in a bro like manner. It felt weirdly unnatural, but Keith ignored it. Like he ignored the stares.   
Lance smiled back, like usual. Uncaring who saw his eyes light up.

That´s when Hunk made his way through the crowd. Burying his friend in a giant hug that must have destroyed Lance´s ribcage somewhere on the way.  
Lance actually coughed at the force he was greeted with.  
“Hunk, buddy. You´re killing me.”  
But Hunk didn´t let go. “I haven´t seen you in months asshole! If you think I´d let you off this easily, you´re -”

“I thought you were mad at me.”, Lance interrupted him, honestly and vulnerable. His voice sounded so surprised and crushed, Hunk actually let go of him, only to stare directly into his eyes.  
“Of course I fucking was, Lance. I still am.   
Fist you´re late all the time, you shout at me for absolutely no reason, then suddenly you´re not yourself anymore, then someone else is literally in your body and then you´ve been avoiding me for months! Of course I´m angry!  
But man, it´s good to see you!”, he hugged him again, not noticing the tears that welled up in Lance´s eyes and he hastily wiped away.

“I´m so sorry, buddy. I´ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“You better keep that promise, or else I won´t ever talk to you again.”, Hunk threatened. 

And this is the moment where I have to explain how Lance changed and why he didn´t – couldn´t go to school. Why his time at home was so important for him. 

In this moment, what nobody could see, Lance´s mind was spiraling on the perspectives he could see this sentence in.   
Because the way Hunk phased it, it could mean that Hunk was emphasizing how important Hunk was to Lance, how irreplaceable Hunk was in general.   
That Hunk could live without Lance. That it would be Lance´s loss. And by all means, all that was true. At least to Lance.  
But Hunk didn´t mean it quite so literal. In fact, Hunk´s voice demanded, or rather added a please to that sentence. Asking Lance to stay. That he had to promise, so Hunk could be sure he wouldn´t loose his best friend. That he couldn´t bare to loose him. And was afraid he might.

In Lance´s head, this was ridiculous conversation, a stupid consideration, a debate without sense. And yet it described his personality so well.   
Lance noticed in this moment how his mind was acting against him. How the voice in his head used it´s power against him.   
It was so stupid to read into this. And Lance knew that. And for once, he didn´t plan on giving in to that voice. 

For the first time, Lance let himself believe that his friend cared about him. Loved him in his own way. The messages, the calls, the actual visiting at his house, all which he had ignored, (and haven´t been mentioned, because I was writing from Keith´s perspective) proved that.   
There wasn´t a single friend Lance would have asked to do this for him.   
Nobody he would have considered going this far.  
But Hunk did. Because that´s the kind of person Hunk was. And that alone, the act on and in itself was enough for Lance to believe.  
Believe that there was kindness in the world. 

He had learned to trust Keith, but that was different. Keith was someone whose judgment didn´t bother Lance. Wouldn´t, because Keith wasn´t that deep in Lance´s life yet. Lance wouldn´t allow himself to be threatened by Keith, whom he had barely ever been friends with.  
It was easier to let someone into your life who wasn´t there when it fucked up. Watched it being fucked up, without being able to help you through it.

Hunk was someone Lance would die for. Hunk was kind to everyone. If Lance couldn´t be forgiven by Hunk, then there was no chance for him left. Then he could never turn around and start a new life. 

Hunk was the reason why Lance didn´t go to school. Hunk was what Lance had feared the most. He had been afraid of his reaction.   
And his reaction alone. 

“Next time somethings up, no matter how fucked up it is, no matter how stupid you think you are, no matter if we had a fight literally ten minutes before, please, come to me next time. I couldn´t bear watching you fall apart. Why can´t you trust me.”, Hunk whispered and Lance couldn´t help but cry.  
The tears spilling, as they overflowed his corrupted heart. He didn´t care that people were watching, making videos, whatever. Who cares. This was Hunk. And Hunk was the best friend anyone could ever have. 

“Thank you, Hunk.”, was all he could say. Broken voice and all. 

It ringed right after. And for the first time, Lance wasn´t afraid anymore. It was alright now. He could go to class. Certainly. 

Hunk finally let go of him. A small smile that asked, if Lance was alright directed at him. And Lance couldn´t help but smile back.   
It took Hunk by surprise. He hadn´t seen Lance smile so honestly in such a long time.

Lance wiped off the tears Hunk only noticed now, before he turned around to Keith again.  
“Shall we?”, he asked, Keith grinning at him as well. 

\-----------------

And let me say, when Lance returned to class and showed off his improvements to his teachers, of course he would still tell everyone.  
Of course he would still get hurt a bit, when people rolled their eyes at him.  
But he was still at the beginning. You can´t change who you are, how you view people in just a couple of weeks. You have to pay attention to your actions, you have to be aware of what you´re doing. You have to reflect your responses, your phrasings, everything you do.  
And Lance is still learning.  
He spend two months in solitude to understand who it actually is, he was hiding. He spend the time trying to accept himself and forgiving himself for his mistakes, his wrong doings, his problems, his fears.

He would take the time and do something nice for himself. Even if he thought he didn´t deserve it, he needed it, so he would grand himself that much.

So when he was back in school, he would know what to protect of himself.   
What to claim his rights.   
So he did. And he would try new things, like archery, guitar lessons (actual ones) or art. He would go out more. Make sure to meet his friends on a regular basis, because he would realize eventually, that being alone didn´t do him any favors.  
He needed time for himself of course. But making sure that he wouldn´t be alone with his thoughts all the time would ease his mind. And if he just needed to hang out, without talking, Keith and Hunk would always be there.   
And after some time, Lance would realize that it wasn´t that different for his friends either. Sometimes they needed that too. 

For the first time Lance was in a place with himself, where he could actually be there for others.

He would come home and talk to his sister more. Sit down at the table after lunch and question his mother about her life, because he had never bothered to ask before.   
He had never been interested before. And maybe he wasn´t yet. But he would learn. The more he knows, the more interested he would get.

He would try to get his father to stop drinking. He may not succeed, but his father drank less at least. And that was a win already.

Lance would discover that life was bigger than himself. He had always known that, crushed by the knowledge of how useless and small he was. How meaningless his life was.  
Now he knew that didn´t matter. It didn´t matter that his life didn´t matter. He was given this life. He was a small part of something bigger, so his actions barely had any consequences. But he could choose whether these consequences were good or bad. And if he choose to be good, and other people responded in a good way – suddenly it wasn´t so meaningless anymore.

He had felt crushed by how big the world was. But the weight of life wasn´t his responsibility. It was a gift. A gift that gave him the freedom to be himself.   
And some day Lance would realize that despite everything, there was only one person in the whole galaxy, in the entire multiverse, that could be him.   
No matter how many versions of him there were. And maybe there was a reason why he existed so many times in so many ways. Maybe he wasn´t so important in this world, but neither is anyone else.   
And Lance shouldn´t exist as an entertainment, as a victim for others.  
If people couldn´t take him as he was, then they didn´t belong in his world. It´s just that easy. 

Lance would move on from this. He would still have bad days sometimes. Sometimes better ones, sometimes worse. But he choose to be happy.   
He choose to be himself. And he choose to be kind to that person. No matter how he felt.   
His actions would spread to others. He would be kind to them too. Helping them be kind to themselves.   
Lance just needed to start with someone. And that someone had to be him.

Maybe one day, he´ll look up at the stars, after a phone call with the Keith and Lance from the other universe, maybe auKeith would be his boyfriend by then. Maybe Pidge would have shown him how to get their number and Hunk would have explained it to him in an easier way once more, just to be sure.   
And then, maybe, he would tell the other Keith that he had been wrong.  
Because Lance had proven him wrong so many times. 

They didn´t hate him. Not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway, I hope you´ll like this chapter, I poured my soul out again. (I even quoted some of my past and/or current friends.) And I hope you enjoy it and maybe see yourself as positive as I have learned to see myself. This story has gone deep into my personality and my understanding of my behavior. (However, this counts for the character analyses, not the romance part. That´s just - well... pure fluff. I have no actual experience with falling in love. Weird huh? It confuses me too.) And I hope that those of you, who struggle with yourself, maybe learn from my mistakes. My idiocy. (I still am an idiot, though XD)  
Thank you so much for joining me on this ride. It was a wild one for me. But I´m glad I did it. I´m glad I´ve come this far.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think XD


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